


Connections

by Canadiantardis



Series: Altean!Pidge [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Pidge | Katie Holt, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Magic, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Flashbacks, Galra Keith (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Oblivious Pidge | Katie Holt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Lance (Voltron), Pining Pidge | Katie Holt, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Technically but there are some changes, Time Skips, Violence, i hope anyway aha, this is a travesty how has no one tagged for oblivious pidge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-06-27 13:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15686142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Princess Katie Holt has been a prisoner of Emperor Zarkon's since he destroyed Altea. One day, ten thousand years after the start of the Galra Expansion, she finally escapes when the Green Lion comes to her aid.((Pidge is an Altean, cousin of Allura. Eventual Plance))





	1. The Fall of Altea

**Author's Note:**

> As a head's up, I decided to play around with time and years between the Alien languages and Human understanding.  
> 1 deca-phoeb is 15 human years. The humans will still think of deca-phoebs as 1 human year but for Altea, 1 deca-phoeb is one rotation around their sun, which would take 15 human years.

Princess Katie Holt of Cantanel, a small continent on the planet Altea, had been very young when their allies, the Galra, declared war upon her home. She remembered her older cousin, Allura, go with her father in the Castle of Lions. She remembered her family try hard to protect herself and her older brother, taking them to what they were calling an escape ship. A refugee ship.

She remembered, with a shiver down her spine, as fire filled her vision and explosions blasted against her ears. Her planet’s allies were not letting anyone go easily. She remembered screaming, praying, bargaining with some gods that surely would aid them. _They couldn’t die yet,_ they cried! _There are too many children on board,_ others pleaded!

A communications relay turned on at the bridge, where Katie and her brother were huddled to keep out of the way. A face they both recognized, and yet at the same time could no longer recognize, appeared on the screen. _Zarkon… But he had died with his wife, Honerva, hadn’t he?_ Whispers flooded the bridge, as if they hadn’t had seen the declaration in the first place. Maybe they hadn’t, but that didn’t stop Katie from staring up at the screen blankly, her brother’s hand gripping hers like she would slip away.

There were no words exchanged in the communications relay. Zarkon had simply looked out at the people on the bridge before he turned his head, and to this day, Katie wished his words had been different. Even if it had cost her and her family their lives, she would have rather never heard the Galra emperor say those words as if he was offering hope.

_“Bring them on board.”_

There was no way to avoid a tracker beam. Katie learned their ship had been the only one to be taken on board, and through the radios, she, her brother, and the crew on the bridge could only mourn and wince at the screams cut off by explosions.

Katie remembered being taken off the refugee ship, separated from her parents and herded along with the other children from the ship. There had truly been many of them, almost a hundred out of a little under 250 Alteans fleeing their planet’s destruction. She remembered how they clustered around herself and her brother. _They were royalty, surely they could protect their people, even at such young ages_ , she had thought.

She remembered everything that happened afterwards. The slaughter, her brother taken away from her as they screamed in terror, the emotionless gaze of the robotic soldiers as they held her down, the screams and blaster shots intermingling, how her eyes couldn’t see with tears. How a child, barely 7 deca-phoebs old, had begged her to save him before he, too, had been shot down, his words cut off.

She remembered the reason she and her brother were separated and given the _luxury_ to live. _Their cousin, their Uncle Alfor, the Castle of Lions, bargaining chips, prisoners of war._

When someone was trapped in a cell for decades, there was nothing to do but remember. Katie remembered to honour those who were no longer with her. She remembered to remind herself why she hated the Galra that passed her cell. She remembered so she would have something to ground herself.

She remembered because it was all she could do. Her magic was wild, but nature-based, and she had been forced into a cryopod after the one time she had been allowed outside of her cell and she fought the guards to an escape pod when she was 13 deca-phoebs. The last thing she remembered seeing before frost overcame her was a young Galra’s leer at her.

* * *

 

Things began to change for Katie when she started to dream, instead of her usual nightmares. By the time the dreams occurred, she had been a captive, frozen for seven thousand years.

The dreams were soft, comforting in a way that left her crying both in the dream and in real life, the tears freezing just as they pushed out from the corners of her closed eyes. She was surrounded by trees, familiar and alien to her, and wind began to blow across the treetops, lifting her hair like it would back home, and in the distance, Katie felt a presence she hadn’t felt since she had been a young child. Bright yellow eyes, green and silver body with lines of cyan light and solid black, and a shield held on it’s back. Katie had only seen the Green Lion of Voltron once, the day it and the rest of Voltron launched for the first time. She had been so proud, her father had helped with its creation, and would often talk about how wonderful it had been to mold some new ore into the fantastic beasts that had eventually led to Altea and Daibazaal’s destruction.

Katie wondered what it meant. _Why had she had a dream of the Green Lion? What was that dream telling her?_

She had no answers until a deca-phoeb since she started to dream, when Katie was taken out of her cryopod for a bit of exercise. It was a heavily guarded walk, if she were honest, but it allowed her to stretch her legs, and seemed the least Lord Zarkon could do with a prisoner who was frozen the moment she returned from the short walk.

The thoughts of Zarkon had caused a spark of anger in the young Altean, still much too young to be considered an adult at 16 deca-phoebs. A small part of her remarked she would be about Matt’s age when she had last seen him.

The anger grew stronger inside her when something crashed into the side of the ship. The guards around her stumbled to the ground, while she somehow kept her footing. Something inside her growled with anger and longing, and her body moved faster than her mind could catch up with the information coming to it.

Like metal to a magnetic force, Katie ran in a direction she had never been to, a myriad of emotions almost too much to handle, and it only grew stronger as she managed to dodge her way to what seemed to a hangar for Galra fighters. There was no airlock, simply a shield keeping in the breathable air, so the young Altean saw what was attacking the ship perfectly, and she wasn’t sure if she was awake or not.

“No way.” She breathed, her body still moving. She felt – no, needed to – she had to get to the Lion pushing at the ship with its back.

Bright yellow eyes made of metal and glass spotted her like it knew she was there. The Lion broke through the shield and Katie ran for it, her heart in her throat as she heard shouting behind her. She ran as blaster fire pursued her, a hand outstretched as the Green Lion lowered its head for her, its mouth open as if to eat her.

But before she could reach its mouth and escape her prison, burning, burning fire hit her bare leg and she collapsed just a couple feet from the open mouth. Seconds later, the mouth snapped shut and the Lion sat up, a shield shooting up as other Galra tried to gain entry into the robotic creature.

Katie didn’t notice. Her leg was burning, direct blaster fire having hit her calve, and from what she could see, bile rose to her throat where her heart had been moments previously. She screamed until she couldn’t tell if she was or not. She screamed as she was picked up and continued as she was brought away from the Green Lion. She screamed as she was brought back to her suffocatingly small prison cell that was her cryopod.

She was certain she would have continued screaming if the glass hadn’t closed around her and she froze in a scream of agony.

* * *

 

Katie woke up screaming, but no longer felt pain on her leg. It took her mind a couple ticks to remember what had happened, and her jaw snapped shut. She was taken out of her prison by robotic sentries, and based on their appearance, she knew she had been in the pod for much longer than she would have been previously.

“Emperor Zarkon wishes to speak with the Green Paladin of Voltron.” A metallic voice declared as one sentry took her by the upper arm and pulled her along.

At first, Katie struggled against the robot, but she processed the words and went limp in shock. She had almost thought the Green Lion appearing before her, calling for her freedom, had simply been a dream, an idiotic dream after being shot for trying to escape.

She was brought into a small room that looked like it would typically hold important meetings among the higher ups, but for the moment, only she, the sentry, and a screen that took up the entire wall it occupied were there. There wasn’t even a table or seats, so the young Altean was forced to stand in front of the screen as the ugly mug of a wizened-looking Galra appeared before them.

“I had a feeling you would one day cause me trouble.” His voice, once smooth and always sounding easily embarrassed if stories told by her uncle were to be true, was as grizzled and old as his appearance. “But never would I have thought you would take Trigel’s place.”

Katie stood as straight as she could, vaguely imitating her mother’s posture when she saw her address other people that were not close to her or the family. “What are you talking about? I’m just your prisoner, nothing more.”

“If that’s what you believe, you are duller than Trigel had been. She would not have allowed someone like you to take over her job.” Zarkon growled in reply, and it unnerved Katie how he gave no emotions as he spoke and yet she could feel the twisted anger radiate off him even through the screen.

“How can I possibly be the Green Paladin? I never…” Her words trail off, the memory finally starting to feel more like a memory than a dream.

“You are the Green Paladin, and you will locate the other Lions for the Empire.” The Galra Emperor instructed. “If you fail to comply, I will give you to the witch Haggar who will make you comply, or die.”

Katie opened her mouth to refuse. She would rather die like the rest of her people had that quintant than help a crazed zombie-like Galra leader.

Before she could, however, the screen faded out, as if Zarkon had left the call, and the sentry was pulling her away.

She was quickly taken to a room where a couple Galra women forcibly stripped her of her prison garb – she was almost happy to be rid of the purple bodysuit that fitted around her young body badly and hung off her shoulders as if she was ever going to stay out of her cryopod to grow up – and put into a black-and-green armoured suit, the galra symbol emblazoned on the chest as if to remind her who had destroyed her previous life.

When she was put into the armour, she was taken away again, where she was soon brought face-to-face with the Lion that had been in her dreams many times over for thousands of years. The shield protecting itself fell as soon as she was pushed forward, and the head went down to accept her into it.

She found the cockpit to look exactly like her father described. It brought tears to her eyes, knowing her father had worked on this creature she was in, knowing some of her father’s work survived the destruction of their race. She sat down, and the chair moved forward to accommodate her short reach, but as the screens turned on, a wave of fury rolled over her as the pure green she imagined from her dreams was tainted with Galra purple.

The Lion gave an audible growl and the purple tainting was wiped clear of the green. Katie would not let the Galra, her captors and enemies, destroy the remaining technology her father had helped create.

A screen popped up, showing a Galra general staring her down with similar eyes to Zarkon. Katie made a brief note at how the Galra have deformed from their pure selves, but she wasn’t sure when or exactly how this had occurred.

“We will be monitoring your locations. Find the Lions for Emperor Zarkon. A couple fighter ships are accompanying you.” He announced in clipped words, and Katie simply stared back at him before the screen popped off.

 _We’ll see about that._ Katie thought viciously as her hands went to the handles. She had never learned how to fly anything before as she had been a child before the war, and yet her arms moved fluidly, controlled by another entity in her head. The Lion was teaching her how to control it, along with showing her a few other features it had.

She flew out of the ship she had been a captive Princess in for over seven thousand years, and who-knew how long she had been in forced cryo-slumber after her latest escape attempt, two fighter ships that were barely larger than the Lion’s head following her. She played along, asking for where the nearest planet was to begin her search and heading off towards the coordinates.

It did not take long for her and her entourage to be far enough away from the ship she felt safe enough to start messing with her controls, telling the Galra fighters she was still figuring out how to fly the massive beast.

They, being rather dumb Galra soldiers, fell for it, and never stood a chance when Katie had the tail and the mouth shoot them point blank. To ensure they wouldn’t come back from the attack, she had the Lion grab the fighter in front of them and smash it into the other one. It was a quiet thing in space, and only those close enough would notice it was an explosion rather than a star flaring for a moment in the distance.

Before the Galra could contact her, Katie’s fingers moved across a control panel, her eyes on the familiar Altean script and finding exactly what she needed. Cloaking.

_“Trigel was the one to suggest it.” Her father had stated one dinner, months before destruction. “We agreed to get on it in the morning, with her help. It’ll make stealth missions with Voltron much easier, she says. I can’t believe we never thought about it before, but we always slip up some days.”_

Katie wasn’t sure how much they had been able to implement into the Lion, but she could only pray as she finished the sequence and gunned her Lion away from the wreckage, holding her breath. She brings up the map to the left side of the screen, finding another planet to find shelter in until she was certain she was in the clear.

As she flew, she checked the map for following Galra ships or others that might notice her presence, as well as seen the world she had been taken away from for far too long. It wasn’t a full image, but everywhere she looked on the map, the planets and systems nearby were tinted purple indicating the conquest of Zarkon. Her stomach twisted at all the familiar and unfamiliar names that popped up, normally tinted blue or teal, to be a horrible purplish-red that stalked her nightmares on a good nights rest.

“He will pay for everything.” She promised as she approached her new hiding spot, a densely wooded planet that seemed deserted. Katie could rest for a varga or two.

* * *

 

They couldn’t contact her, they couldn’t find her, and for the first time since she had scraped her knee back home when she had been a tiny child, fat tears fell down Princess Katie’s cheeks as sobs wracked her slender frame. Curled on the seat in the Green Lion’s cockpit, the Princess of a former continent of a planet long obliterated allowed herself time to finally grieve her heart out. For her mother, her father, all the friends she had made, for her brother, wondering if he was even still alive. For her cousin and uncle, and for everyone who the Galra had deemed killable.

She could grieve without worrying about how loud her sobs were, or having a guard come in on her to drag her away to walk. It was as if she were finally bearing her heart and soul out to the world, and it lasted several dobashes.

By the time the tears slowed, and she could shakily breathe, Katie uncurled, wiping the tears from her face and looked around the cockpit with new eyes. Familiar Altean script blinked diagnosis to her left and right, telling her how the Lion was physically and how much power she could use. The main screen showed what she imagined the Lion could see, and above the Altean script was the map of the sector Katie found herself in. She checked the map carefully, not seeing any Galra blips moving in her direction, and a yawn brought her to a quick decision.

She was safe for a moment. She had no idea for how long, but she needed to truly rest, not be in a frozen slumber where time practically stopped. She stood up and looked around back where she had walked into the cockpit. She remembered her father had talked about the plans over a lunch with Uncle Alfor that she, Matt, and Allura had eavesdropped on, and knew there was supposed to be both a place with rations, and a roll-up cot for long journeys into deep space with nothing around except blackness and distant stars that would twinkle merrily.

It took a couple dobashes to find exactly what she was looking for, and she ate one of the rations in a way her mother would have been disgusted by. But Katie could not let herself care about etiquette and stuffed her face before she found the cot. She dragged it back to the cockpit, lining it up against the back of the chair, and quickly dropped onto it, curling up on her side, with her armoured back touching the chair.

As her eyelids slipped closed, she felt the soothing comfort of the Lion in her mind, and blissful silence broken only by her movements and breathing. It had been millennia since she had felt peace like this.

Chapter done


	2. The Aliens on Arus

When Katie had fallen asleep, outside the Lion had been dim with the sun on the other side of the planet, but she woke to dappled sunlight as it tried hard to break through the canopy made by the strange trees of the planet.

She realized it had been a bad idea to sleep in the armour she had been forced in vargas ago, as stretching was both difficult and uncomfortable. It had been a good idea, however, that she had paid attention to how the Galra women had put on her armour as she did the opposite to get herself out until she was wearing the black under-armour suit underneath.

Once the horrible armour was removed, she resumed her stretching when the Green Lion’s presence tapped her mind, and it felt like it wanted to tell her, or show her something.

“What is it?” She asked, slipping into the seat and placed her hands on the handles, closing her eyes to focus on whatever small thread connected her mind to the Lion’s.

The connection was foggy, but something blue flashed into her mind, as well as a silhouette that felt familiar, like a dream from long ago.

“You… want me to find something? Uh, show me the way.” Katie said, and suddenly a small little ping went off on the map, showing a planet far, far away. “Okay, let’s go.”

* * *

 

It took about three quintants for Katie to reach the pinged area, as she both had a long way from the middle of the Galra Empire to the fringes, and she had to avoid being detected by the Empire as well. The planet was relatively small compared to some planets she had rested on and passed by, but very lush and a large portion seemed to comprise of water. Based on the fluffy white clouds that simply looked like wisps as Katie approached, she could tell there was some sort of habitable atmosphere around the planet.

She looked at her map as it zoomed in to show the planet, a new ping showing up on a specific landmass on the planet. She took the controls and headed over, quickly passing through the atmosphere.

When the clouds misted away as she descended, her eyes caught the vaguely familiar silhouette from the Green Lion’s flashing images, and from her tattered memories of home, and her vision blurred. She pushed the controls to go faster, blinking as quickly as she could before she landed too forcefully.

Katie didn’t care. She had to hurry. Her heart was pounding so painfully, her throat stung and burned as she ran out of the Lion towards the entrance, and only distantly heard Green roar as she sprinted forward. She watched as the approaching doors opened, revealing a dark entryway.

She had never been in the Castle of Lions, but Allura would talk about it from the deca-phoeb she had spent travelling with her father and mother in it for diplomatic summits or something. She knew where to go, and soon she reached the bridge, the entire way there utterly dark except some emergency lighting faintly on so she wouldn’t run into a wall.

The door to the bridge was open, and Katie found the crystal hanging above to be the brightest thing in the room, other than the natural light of the afternoon light outside. She looked around the bridge, her mind catching up with her quick decisions, when she saw the middle of the bridge, and the flash of blue from Green’s connection to her came back. She had to do… Something… And quickly.

She stepped forward, extending her hands down as she reached the middle of the bridge, where a raised platform lay, and two hand-holds slid up, stopping when her hands cupped the domed tops. Katie closed her eyes, picturing the flash of blue when a rush passed through her, leaving through her fingertips similar to the time she had used her magic.

A flash appeared high above her, outside the Castle of Lions, and when she opened her eyes, she saw what she had created. She had known Alteans with magic could control Teladuvs, but to _be_ one of those hadn’t been something she ever could have imagined, and yet…

* * *

 

A large weird tear in the middle of space, with a swirling vortex. Yeah, that didn’t mean instant death, compared to the _freaking alien ship trying to kill them._

“The Lion’s telling you all this. It’s your decision, Lance.” Shiro, Lance’s absolute flying _hero,_ said with a note of finality. Keith and Hunk were silent on either side of the older man.

There wasn’t much time to think things through, and Lance wasn’t one to really bother with thinking things through unless it had to do with a pretty girl he was hoping to woo or involved his family in some way. He knew the four of them were stuck between a rock and a hard place, but the weird hole made the Blue Lion they had found happy, and it _wanted_ to go in it.

Lance took a deep breath before he pushed the controls forward, thrusting the Lion into the swirling vortex, shutting his eyes tightly in case he didn’t like what he would see.

_“Woah.”_ Hunk breathed to his right, and it was then that Lance opened his eyes to see an actual alien planet up front and personal ahead of them.

Turning the Lion’s head back the way they came from, the four saw the weird wormhole shrink before popping out of existence, leaving them stranded somewhere in the universe with no idea how they got there and no way to get back.

“Well, looks like this is our stop.” Lance muttered, turning the Lion back to the planet and headed towards the surface.

They reached land, where an old looking structure stood, and weirdly enough, a Green Lion at the entrance. It was smaller than Blue, and slimmer too, but Lance and the others knew instantly it was a piece of Voltron, from their vision after finding Blue.

“Maybe it’s a welcoming party?” Hunk tried, but his eyes betrayed his fear. Lance could understand, everything now was a lot scarier than the day before.

“Guess we’ll have to go and see.” Shiro said, his real hand holding tightly on the top of Lance’s seat to keep his balance as the teen carefully landed the Blue Lion beside the Green one.

It did not move after they landed, nor when they left the Lion to approach the building. The Green Lion simply sat there, much like how the Blue Lion had when they all found it. Lance tried to not feel intimidated by the second giant robotic cat, his head twisted back to look at it as the four of them walked into the dark building.

The middle of the entryway lit up in a circle around them, an alien language speaking at them in a robotic tone, before lights seemed to scan them, and the language slowly turned English.

“… complete, new species documented. Language translator initiated.”

“…What?” Keith asked after several moments of silence before light popped into existence, heading down one hallway.

“Everyone, stay close.” Shiro ordered, and the three teens nodded, sticking relatively close to the older man as they followed the lit areas.

They walked a long way, deep into the strange structure, until they made it to another circular room, and a couple tall pod things raised from the floor. Lance and Hunk hollered, grabbing each other as the four watched one open, the blue of the pod almost magically disappearing to reveal a young woman with smooth, dark skin and long, white hair done in a half ponytail-type style, a rather peculiar dress of blues and pinks and whites, and weird makeup making small checks on the cheekbones. It wasn’t until Lance noticed pointed ears that he realized this was an actual _alien_ he was looking at, on an actual _alien planet._

Then the woman fluttered her eyes open for a moment before she gave a start and stumbled forward. Lance, sensing she was about to fall, leapt forward to catch her before this strange woman could hurt herself.

“Woah there. Are you okay?” He asked, helping her find her feet, and she looked him in the eyes and his breath caught. Cotton candy irises gazed at him in confusion. She was… absolutely out of his league and drop-dead gorgeous in a way that no human woman could ever get naturally.

“Your… ears are hideous.” Her voice could almost be British if she were human, but there was a melody no human could get unless they were trying very hard to get.

“Wh-hey, that’s not-” Lance started before he saw her eyes harden and she grabbed one of his ears and twisted, pinning him on his knees.

“Who are you? How did you get here? And where is King Alfor?” The woman demanded to the others, her voice as hard as her eyes had turned.

“Hold on, let’s everyone calm down here.” Shiro said, his arms up in a placating manner. “We’re not sure how we got here, maybe you can explain to us what’s going on?”

There was silence before the pain lifted from Lance’s poor abused ear as the woman let go and stepped away.

“Very well. I am Princess Allura of Altea, and-”

_“Allura!”_ A young voice cried from the entrance of the room just several minutes ago Lance and the others had entered from. Still rubbing his ear, Lance looked to see a girl around his age in a black padded bodysuit sprint and fling her arms around the woman, wrapping her arms so tightly around the other it was as if she were trying to fuse the two of them together. The guys could not understand a word the girl said, but they could all hear the watery tone and saw the shaking frame

“K-Katie?!” Allura’s tone seemed mostly confused. “Wh-what?”

The girl stepped away, her long golden-brown hair still hiding most of the face but Lance could see pale skin and the hint of the makeup like Allura’s on her cheekbones. “I thought, I thought you had died! He, he kept talking about how you, your father, so I thought…” A fresh sob wracked the girl’s poor frame, and Allura brushed the hair from the girl’s face, kneeling down to be eye-to-eye and from where Lance was, he was able to see the girl’s face better.

She had similar markings, although they were a dark green compared to Allura’s bubblegum pink, and her eyes were a bright honey-amber colour, and like real honey, Lance felt himself get trapped in their grief-stricken gaze, even if the girl wasn’t looking at him.

Allura wiped the tears, cupping the girl’s face before they hugged each other again as the second raised pod opened. Lance blinked in shock at the third alien. He was as pale as the girl – Katie? – but with vibrant orange hair and a moustache Nigel Thornberry would be proud of, and similar clothes to Allura’s, if a bit plainer.

The man took a couple slow blinks as he seemed to wake up as well, looking around and spotting Allura and Katie.

“Princesses! Wh-How did you get here?” He stumbled forward but seemed to get his legs under him before Lance or someone else could catch him.

“Coran! I…” Allura looked to the man as he seemed to notice the other guys in the room.

“AH! Invaders! Have at thee!” The man – Coran – shouted and lunged at Lance, but he simply sidestepped to avoid.

“Coran please, this is important, I think we’ve been asleep a lot longer than we meant to be.” Allura chided, a hand keeping the young girl pressed to her as she went to the middle of the room as a panel slid up. She read whatever popped up in it and her eyes went wide. “Coran… We’ve been asleep for ten _thousand years.”_

* * *

 

Ten thousand years… Ten thousand years of being a prisoner to Zarkon, frozen for well over half of that time. Ten thousand years since Altea had been a thriving planet with millions of inhabitants living their lives, as simple or as extraordinary as it might have been.

Ten thousand years since Katie had seen her family, and she wondered if anyone other than the cousin she currently clung to was still alive.

The aliens who had arrived in the Blue Lion, and Coran were all but forced out of the medical bay by Allura, saying she and Katie would be with them shortly. Once they were alone, the tears glazed her cousin’s eyes, and she fell to her knees, reaching for Katie almost desperately.

The two Altean girls clung to one another as sobs and sniffles were the only sounds between them.

Allura told her what happened on her end. How her father knocked her unconscious, promising to see her again one day. How the last thing she had seen was Altea burning and arguing with her father to form Voltron to defeat Zarkon right then and there.

In return, Katie tried to tell as much as she could about the destruction of their planet, but at the part of the massacre of the children in front of her, bile rose to her throat and all words choked.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Katie.” Allura whispered when she shook her head, unable to say the horrible things their former allies did to the innocent Altean children while her brother and her watched and screamed for it to stop. “I’m so, _so sorry.”_ Her voice cracked, and all talking was forsaken for simply comforting one another with the knowledge the other was alive.

When Katie could speak again, it was a stuttering mess, and she had to repeat herself countless times to get the right words.

“We were separated, I, I don’t even know if he’s still alive or not.” She said. “I learned my magic element while I was a prisoner, but was forced into a cryopod after I attacked the guards. But then, then, then I, quiznak, Allura. I had these dreams of the Green Lion, and then, and then, it _came_ to me. I was so close to escaping like, four thousand years ago! But…” She moved a hand to her leg, where the scar of the blaster wound would be under the black under-armour. “I was forced into another forced sleep, and when I woke again, now… Zarkon told me to find the other Lions for him. I would never do that, and found a way to cover myself, thanks to…” Her voice cracked, but she screwed her eyes up and cleared her throat. “Thanks to my Dad and Trigel. I’ll need to modify it, but I was able to get away from them, and I’m _so_ happy I did now. I thought I wouldn’t see you again.”

Allura gave an incredulous bark of laughter, holding Katie’s head in her hands with a tenderness reminiscent of her mother. “You’re _so very_ brave, you know that? I’m so proud you survived so long alone like that. But know that’ll _never_ happen again. I promise.” She said, kissing the younger Altean on the forehead, before she stood up, smoothing her skirt. “Now, I think it’s time to talk to those, uh, hue-mans?”

Katie nodded, taking the moment to wipe the last of her tears and pull herself together. She wasn’t alone anymore, and she would never let anything happen to push her away from her family again.

Chapter done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic will be mostly following Katie's POV, but might diverge to other POVs on occasion!  
> Also, can you tell I love Allura and Pidge loving each other like family?
> 
> I'm not sure if Katie will get the Pidge nickname in this AU. We'll have to see~


	3. The New Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect chapters every week, this is just a lucky fluke >.<
> 
> Anyway, enjoy~

The two found that Coran had brought the four humans to the bridge, and the royal advisor was having trouble finding common ground with them, despite the smile on his face and his non-stop talking.

“Thank you, Coran, for bringing them here.” Allura said, moving to the middle of the room, where the little domed pillars were still partially raised, fully raising for Katie’s cousin to use. A map of the universe popped into existence, filling the entire bridge with pinpoints of known star systems and galaxies. At first all the lights were blue and pure in colour, before she began to explain the Galra Empire’s plan to take over every civilized planet for a reason that didn’t make sense to either species.

As Allura explained everything she knew and what Katie had been able to tell her before, the youngest Altean watched the humans. They were very similar to Alteans, except they had no markings and their ears were rather dull.

One, who looked to be about Allura’s age, seemed to be the only one battle-worn without ever being a part of the war, or so she assumed. He had a nasty looking scar running across his nose that stopped on both of his cheekbones, where the markings would be typically on an Altean, and one of his arms had been encased – or completely replaced – with a metallic version of an arm. His hair was rather unusual with it’s black and white difference, and she wondered what drove this human to make such a bold statement with his hair like that.

Her eyes swept onto the younger three, who looked like they would be around her age or older, if she could hazard a guess. The large one radiated kindness despite her never having talked to him before and the fact his current expression was one of worry and confusion. The paler one looked similar to the older human, and she wondered if the two were related in some way.

But the third young human was looking at her when her eyes went to him. He seemed a little lost, but his eyes were piercing into hers in a way that felt intimidating. Katie couldn’t help but feel her face heat up and she looked away, just as Allura brought up the Lions.

“We already have two Lions ready for use, but we are still missing the Red and Yellow Lions. Without them, we will not be able to get to the Black Lion that my father had locked away in its hangar in the Castle.” She explained, looking from Katie to the human with the piercing eyes. “As such, you two will have to help the other Paladins retrieve the Red and Yellow Lions, but as of now, I cannot feel where the Red Lion is.” Her eyes look the to paler young human.

“We’ll help, Princess.” The older human said, and he spoke like a general. Katie wondered if he had been in an army or some human equivalent before. “Zarkon has to pay for what he has done.”

“I’m glad someone’s in agreement.” Katie said mildly, crossing her arms over her chest, feeling the humans’ eyes move to her.

“Ah, yes.” Allura’s tone turned funny as she stepped away from the command station, the stars that had been surrounding them disappearing. “This is my cousin, Princess Katie. We… had not seen one another since the war began, and we had no idea if the other was. Well…”

Allura’s words trailed off, leaving a silence that consumed the bridge, until Katie couldn’t stand it.

“I had thought Allura had died alongside her father at the hands of Zarkon ten thousand years ago.” She spoke bluntly, refusing to allow herself to show emotion again. Not yet. Not again. “I had been a prisoner of Zarkon since then, with… I thought I would be the only Altean left alive.”

“You were a prisoner of the Galra as well?” The older human asked, his non-metal hand going to touch the border between flesh and the metal arm almost subconsciously. “I had been captured by the Galra a year ago, but… I managed to escape.” There was a glazed look in his eyes, as if he were trying to remember but was unable to. “Did they hurt you?”

Katie’s formerly injured leg shifts conspicuously. “Only when I tried to escape.”

“So, you’ve been living as a prisoner for ten thousand years?” The large one asked. “How slow do you aliens age?”

Katie and the other Alteans cocked their heads to the side, but then she shook her head. “I’ve been aging for about sixteen deca-phoebs, give or take some movements. I was forced into a cryopod like my cousin after my first escape attempt using my magic.” She explained.

“Wait, wait, wait. Magic?!” The one with the piercing eyes shouted, surprising her with his voice.

“Yes, magic. Do, uh, humans not possess magic? Or alchemy?” Allura asked curiously, and the Alteans were surprised to see the humans shake their heads. “How odd… But in any case, we must hurry. We cannot allow the Galra to hold get the Lions. Zarkon will stop at nothing to get his hands on them.”

“So what should we do?” The large one questioned.

“The Blue Paladin will accompany you to where I have located the Yellow Lion. I can feel its presence inside you, similar to how the Blue and Green Lions reside in my cousin and him.” She nods towards the human with the piercing eyes.

“Uh, the Blue Paladin has a name. It’s Lance.”

“Oh, right. Your Highnesses, my name is Shiro, and these three are Keith, Hunk, and obviously Lance. We introduced ourselves to Coran while you two had spoken to one another.” The older looking human introduced, and somehow Piercing Eyes’ name suited him.

“Welcome. Now, we should hurry and get going, we do not know if any Galra had noticed both of your arrivals to this planet.” Allura said.

* * *

 

Before leaving, Allura brought them to the armoury, where unused suits rested to be put on. They looked similar to the original suits that Katie could remember, if not slimmer and sleeker. The V on the chest was a nice touch.

Katie was relieved to get out of the Galra under-armour and into clothes that fit her perfectly. It had been millennia since she had worn Altean clothes after she outgrew her small dress, and to see something green on her soothed her, no longer wearing the gaudy purple rags.

When Allura handed out the bayards, Katie was almost afraid to touch it. _Trigel had held this once, and now she’s gone…_ A part of her reminded but was overtaken by determination. She would not let Trigel’s death be in vain.

“We were never able to recover the Black Bayard, Shiro. I do not know where it is.” Allura said, which made Katie frown. _Didn’t Zarkon have the bayard?_

She was brought out of her thoughts as her bayard flashed a brilliant emerald green before showing a multipurpose grappling hook. She took practice swings with it when taunting words came her way.

“Aww, you have a cute little bayard~” Lance’s words caused a wave of heat to crawl up her neck, and did the first thing she could think of: she swung her bayard straight into his gut, electrifying the tall human enough to make him fall on his butt.

“Yeah.” She replied wryly even if she was blushing lightly. “It is pretty cute.”

* * *

 

They had less than a quintant to find the Yellow and Red Lions. When Allura had been able to locate the Red Lion after a few vargas of using the link her father had placed within her, Katie, Shiro, and Keith had made their way to the Galra ship orbiting the planet and rescue the Red Lion that was held prisoner.

She and Shiro had separated from Keith when Shiro had said he had been on this ship before with other prisoners. Katie could not allow prisoners to stay trapped if she could save as many as she could.

They were able to save about a dozen, and helped them escape, and both learned a few of the aliens seemed to recognize Shiro as some Champion. Along the way, the two new Paladins were almost caught by one of the small floating drones. Having been around them for so long in her time as a prisoner, Katie knew how to rewire the little drone, as well as adding her own Altean magic into it to change its allegiance.

“I’m going to call you…” _Matt,_ a little voice suggested, but that brought a lump to her throat. “Rover. Come on.” It had been the name of a toy Katie had once had when she had been a very small child, but the memories were not as gut-punching as the name of her brother.

The two brought the former prisoners to an escape pod, setting the coordinates to where the Castle of Lions awaited, before they heard back from Keith.

“Okay, I, uh,” the human sounded out of breath, “I got the Red Lion. We should hurry back.”

“Copy that, Keith.” The older human looked to Katie and they nodded. “We’re on our way now.”

* * *

 

The first time they formed Voltron was when they’re fighting the Galra ship that had previously been holding the Red Lion. They had all thought Sendak would not attack so soon, and the older human Shiro had barely gotten into the Black Lion when the first shot was fired.

It was an almost euphoric experience, connecting with the four aliens in a way she had never done before, feeling them as if they were within reach.

Then she was an arm, and the info that popped up showed Voltron’s connection and health as it were. So much new info she had never known about, as her father had no idea, and the few times Voltron had come up with her Uncle Alfor, he had never included anything like this in his stories. But as they fought the ship, she could understand why. The feeling could not be replicated or expressed in any language.

“I can’t believe it!” Keith shouted in surprise, opposite Katie as the right arm of Voltron.

“We formed Voltron!” Her own voice sounded tight. A part of her knew she should not be here, that _this was Trigel’s spot_ , but the thought was fleeting as she focused on the bond she had created with the human creatures.

“I’m a leg!” The large human, Hunk, sounded almost ecstatic.

“How are we doing this?” The wiry human, Lance, shouted over everyone.

“I don’t know, but let’s get that cannon.” Shiro ordered. Katie almost interjected with exactly how they were able to form the mighty robot, but in the heat of the moment, she had to focus on keeping Voltron stable as they destroy the ion cannon and blow the ship up with their combined attacks.

It was a lot to take in, and Katie was barely able to contain herself from bursting as they returned to the planet’s surface where Allura and Coran were waiting with similar proud expressions as the youngest Altean felt.

“Good work Paladins!” Allura congratulated as they each left their Lions, now separated again. She heads directly towards Katie and wraps her in a tight embrace, her voice lowering to a whisper for her cousin’s ears only. “You’d make my father and Trigel so proud, Katie.”

“Thank you, Allura.” She whispered back. Through Allura’s hair, she noticed how Lance was looking at them with an expression she couldn’t describe, but it was at least curious. When he noticed she had caught him, his cheeks darkened and he looked back to Coran, who was going on about having to do this again and again until Zarkon and the Galra threat was dealt with.

Chapter done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank god for episode transcripts  
> There will be timeskips. I'm not gunna rewrite the entire series. So most of what happens in Voltron in Canon will happen in this series with some obvious differences.


	4. The Battle for the Castle

_Five Quintants Later_

During the moments she wasn’t battling Keith for training time, or tinkering with equipment her father had always found fascinating even if he had been the King of Cantanel and would normally have to focus on other duties like diplomacy or peace-keeping, or in the Green Lion fighting the aliens that had once been her people’s allies during the worst of their histories, Katie found herself comfortable in loose clothes, taking things easy. In the closet in her room she had found a various amount of clothing, including some dresses Allura put in there. Katie promised herself she would wear the dresses only for diplomatic reasons and kept them clean and tucked away in the back of the closet, opting for a loose green tunic and grey shorts, with some shoes with flared open tops that luckily fit her comfortably.

At the same time, Katie found herself learning about Earth, which she thought was both primitive and beautiful based on the words Shiro or Lance spoke.

“You have rain that doesn’t hurt?” She asked Lance, having noticed he had slipped from the party with the Arusians. “What does your rain feel like?”

Lance had a melancholic expression as he looked to the stars she had Coran set up, who sat on the other side of Lance. “Wet. It’s liquid, like how rain should be… Do you think we’ll ever get back home?”

A lump formed in Katie’s throat, but it was Coran who answered the question. “I’m sure you will, Lance. This war will finally come to an end.”

There was a couple ticks of silence before Coran said he had to get going back to make sure the party in the entrance was going well, and it was only Katie and Lance on the bridge, gazing at the holographic star systems surrounding them.

“You were born on the planet Zarkon destroyed, right? Like your, your cousin and Coran?” Lance asked suddenly, looking at Katie with an expression that kept her captive in her spot. She nodded and he continued. “Do you miss it?”

The question brought back the lump to her throat, and her breath felt short. “So much.” She whispered, looking down at her lap. “There’s a lot of things I miss about home.”

“I don’t know how I would feel if home was gone…” Lance looked away, down at his own lap, and when Katie tilted her head to eye him, she saw a deep sadness. “The blue oceans, the white clouds, the green grass… my family, if all that was gone… I can’t imagine how that feels.”

“We won’t allow any more people feel the pain us Alteans have felt when we lost our home planet.” There was a sharpness in Katie’s chest as she made the promise, her eyes flashing up to the stars around them as they now faded away. “No one should have to go through that kind of pain. Never again.”

They were silent for a few ticks before Lance cleared his throat. “Uh, we should get back to the party.” He said, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. “And K-Katie?”

“Yeah?” Katie stood up slowly, the armoured shoes of her Voltron suit tapping softly against the ground. She had to look up at the lanky human.

“Thanks for, well, y’know.” His cheeks darkened, and he wouldn’t look her in the eyes as he swept a hand around the bridge. “This. Talking.”

The Altean girl smiled softly, and nodded in response. “Always, Lance. You’re my teammate.”

They were walking towards the entrance of the bridge when Rover came through it. Katie mindlessly waved to it, and Lance started to greet it.

“Hey, Ro-wait, what?” His tone made her pause and turn back to see one Rover head straight for the crystal, and another Rover… floating right behind her.

“Wha-” Katie began before the Rover by the crystal started to beep.

“Katie, look out!” The last thing she saw was Lance tackling her and the room exploding.

* * *

 

Katie groaned back into consciousness. Everything hurt, but her suit protected her from most of the damage. Someone supported her head up, warm fingers against her pulse.

“What happened?” She heard the older human, Shiro, ask near her.

Her eyes flutter open, noticing dust settling around her and slowly wondering when Shiro had gotten to the bridge. Allura held her up, concern lining her expression as she gazed into Katie’s eyes.

“I don’t, ugh, I don’t know.” She answered, sitting up by herself, looking around where that second Rover had been. “Oh…”

Allura looked confused before she followed Katie’s gaze and gasped. “The crystal!”

Coran muttered something too quietly for the young princess to hear, but she had a rough idea what it was.

“Lance!” Shiro’s voice brought her back to what happened and she snapped to attention, looking around for the Blue Paladin.

He groaned before she spotted him, a few feet away from her and looked more worse than she felt. She scrambled to her feet, Allura keeping her steady. “We have to get him to the infirmary.”

“You know without the crystal, we cannot power anything in the Castle, Katie.” Allura reminded as the group, including Keith, surrounded Shiro as he picked up Lance bridal style.

“He doesn’t look good.” Shiro said grimly and the tone gripped Katie’s heart in a way she couldn’t figure out why. Just a bit ago, the two had been having a heart-to-heart chat about their homes, and now…

The Arusian King was yelling with Hunk guiding him towards the group. Something about the village being attacked.

“The Galra planned this.” Katie gritted her teeth, anger pulsing through her. “We have to help them.”

“But the Lions are sealed in their hangars. We cannot fight them. We can’t even defend ourselves.” Allura sounded close to despairing, and Katie felt like she was 10 again.

“We need a new crystal to get the Castle back up and running, but to get a crystal, we need a ship.” Coran said.

“I… I have a ship ready.” Keith said, getting confused expressions from Katie and Hunk. “The ship I was loading, I left the bay doors opened there.”

_Why did he have a ship ready… What had he been planning?_ Katie wondered as Coran and Hunk agreed to get a new Balmeran crystal.

“I’ll go help the Arusians.” Keith said when Coran and Hunk headed out to the bay for the small ship Keith had said was open, and Allura gave a quick look to Katie before saying she would go with him.

“Katie, help Coran.” She said before she and Keith left.

Katie looked at Shiro and Lance for a long tick before ripping her eyes away from them and running off after the royal advisor and the large human.

* * *

 

After the Yellow Paladin and Coran left, Katie had been heading back to where Shiro said he would be. She stalled at the sounds of shouts, eyes wide. Keeping to the shadows in the Castle, she reached the entrance where just a couple dobashes earlier had been filled with Arusians celebrating the defeat of that weird robot-beast, to see the Galra commander, Sendak, and Shiro battling with similar but very different Galra-made prosthetic arms, and she saw another Galra soldier stalk over to a body wearing a white and blue Voltron suit.

Katie felt her heart stutter a few steps.

“Let him go or your friend won’t make it.” His words grate against her ears even from her spot, and she pulled away from the scene, leaning against the wall forcibly, both hands over her mouth to keep quiet.

“Voltron is ours.” She heard Sendak announce.

“Oh no.” She breathed in response, skittering away from the scene with her stomach in knots and her heart both squeezing painfully and felt like it was falling into her boots.

* * *

 

Katie luckily found a way to her helmet to hear Keith and Allura speaking.

“…whoever took over the Castle has a crystal, which means they’ll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them.” Allura said over the comms.

“How are we going to do that?” Keith’s voice sounded as angry as he normally looked.

“Keith? Allura? Can you hear me?” Katie tried to speak quietly, her tone uncertain as she looked around, Rover quiet beside her.

“Katie?” Keith and Allura questioned at the same time, but Keith continued to speak. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the Castle. Sendak has taken over and he's preparing for launch. He's got Lance and Shiro.” She said, leaning against a wall, crouching.

“Katie, we don’t have much time to stop them from lifting off.” Allura said. “We have to stop them before they can.”

“What do I do? Dad didn’t help work on the Castle.”

“You have to get down to the main engine control panel and…”

* * *

 

Katie listened to Allura until interference crackled her cousin’s voice away before she gave the sequence to follow to turn off the primary turbine. In a panic, she used her bayard and smashed the entire thing, hoping it would be good enough.

The power surge caught the Altean girl off guard, and she is flung back with a shout of surprise. She rolled onto her side, shaking her head to rid the shock as she heard the engine power down thankfully.

“Yes!” She cheered quietly before scrambling up and heading back over the catwalk to figure out if she could contact Allura and Keith again.

* * *

 

When getting to the particle generator was impossible with the drones trying to catch her, Katie had to find another way to stop the ship from lifting off with the Galra commanding it.

She also had to believe the mice would able to sneak past the drones if what she understood from Allura’s words when the drones attacked her.

She managed to mess with the Galra that had threatened Lance’s safety to make Shiro surrender who had gone to try to fix the primary turbine.

Then she decided to face the man head on, her head held high and eyes blazing with barely contained fury.

“You’re the one causing all this trouble? The Altean runt that escaped Emperor Zarkon?” He sounded gleeful as he recognized her, even if he was confused.

“I’m not just the ‘Altean runt,’ I’m a Paladin of Voltron.” Katie readied her bayard.

The Galra man spoke again, but she didn’t catch anything except, “Nothing stops me but victory or death!” before he attacked her.

It was nothing like sparring with the other Paladins or Allura, or fighting in the Green Lion, and Katie was lucky to have Rover help her.

That was until the Galra man grabbed Rover when it tried to help her trip him into the hole they fought by, it being the only thing keeping him from falling.

“Rover! No!” Katie cried, running to the edge as Rover beeped, the light blinking once, twice, before it faded, and both it and the Galra fell.

She fell to her knees, her stomach in painful knots again. “No…” She whispered, memories of the Altean child begging for her help in the massacre flashing to the forefront of her mind. Bile rose to her throat, only to be snapped back to reality by Sendak’s voice, demanding for the Galra man to report in.

Fury and the beginnings of revenge surge through her veins, picking her up and to the communications relay.

“Haxus is dead, and you’re next!” She shouted with emotion dripping from each word.

“You may have slowed me down, but this ship is mine! It would do you better to give yourself up now, or suffer the consequences.”

“Never!” Katie’s hands were fists by her side, knowing what would happen to her if she gave up.

“Maybe your leader can convince you.” Sendak said, before the Altean girl heard Shiro’s voice.

“Katie? Katie, don’t listen to-AGH” The words the older human had been saying was turned into tortured shouts, the sounds ripped from his mouth, she could tell.

“No!” Katie protested.

“You can make it stop. His suffering is in your hands, girl.” Sendak said before cutting the communications between Katie and him.

Katie gulped, thoughts of Shiro and Lance being tortured unless she did something. Her stomach was so knotted she felt sick, but she still had surging anger driving her movements. She wasn’t going to let the Galra hurt the humans she had barely known for a movement, not again. She was no longer the helpless child who could not even protect her people from the Galra holding her and her brother down.

She practically ran up to the bridge, keeping out of sight of the drones, until she was outside the entrance, leaning against part of the ribbed hallway, looking in to see the two humans. Lance was laying on his back, as if he had been simply dropped with his head leant on a raised part of the floor, and Shiro was knelt, his head forward and Katie couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not, at least not from her vantage point.

She spotted Sendak and ducked back before he saw her. She quickly used her holographic double and sent it away, in view of the Galra commander.

Once he gave chase after her double, Katie sprinted into the bridge, going to the two Paladins.

“Shiro?” She panted, kneeling in front of him, and lightly shook him. “Shiro, wake up. It’s me-”

A claw-like hand grabbed her entire torso, and yanked her high into the air, away from the other Paladins.

“You really think that little hologram trick would work on me, girl?” Sendak demanded, squeezing on Katie’s torso painfully, causing her to yell in pain.

At that moment, she saw Keith and Allura enter the bridge, the Red Paladin with his sword at the ready.

“Stay back-” Sendak began when something blasted him on the shoulder, and he dropped Katie.

She quickly tumbled out of the way, rolling over until she was close to her cousin and Keith, her bayard at the ready when she popped back to her feet. Looking over, she saw Lance pass out, his own bayard returning to its passive state.

A part of her felt her breath catch. _Lance had been out cold… How did he know?_ She wondered briefly before she went on the offensive. Shiro distracted Sendak from attacking the prone human, and both she and Keith joined in. Katie managed to slice the connecting energy between Sendak’s fake arm and his shoulder, weakening him effectively.

Once Allura and Keith were able to trap Sendak a couple dobashes later, Katie went over to Lance immediately as Keith went to Shiro.

“You… saved me.” Katie sounded questioning in her statement as she helped him sit up, and saw him mostly lucid.

“Yeah…” Lance smiled at her in a way that sent a fuzzy feeling to her finally unknotted stomach. “Can’t let my team down.”

Katie found a watery laugh bubble out of her mouth, but she couldn’t figure out why.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Biggest change here: Keith being the one to try leaving instead of Pidge. Idk if it'll be addressed, but if not, Keith was going to leave to find his mother, who left him a note his father kept from him until his death. He knows he's an alien, but doesn't know what kind.
> 
> A lot of the canon dialogue was used, or what was shown in the transcripts found in the Voltron Wiki, and I plan to keep using it for some specific scenes.


	5. The Robeast on Balmera

Katie had heard a lot about Balmeras when she had been a small child by her grandparents, but seeing what the Galra had done to this particular Balmera made the young Altean almost throw up, tears burning the back of her eyes in horror.

She could not focus on that until Voltron put a stop to the Galra torturing the poor ancient creature. She worked on dropping the Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology sensors into the largest holes, then she would be helping to free the Balmerans with the other Paladins.

She worked with Shiro to find the Galra soldiers once they all landed, but she is soon separated from Shiro within the tunnels to cover more ground. She saved a young Balmeran child from the rock-like creatures unstable fossils crumbling.

“Hey, team. The Balmera is really unstable now!” She calls over the communications to her team, with the hope they wouldn’t have dealt with cave-ins like she just had. “We have to be careful.”

“Got it.” Hunk replied, his voice quiet. She had to assume he was close to Galra and did not want to give his position away.

Katie paused as she watched the young Balmerans run further into the caverns, placing a hand onto the rough walls with a gloved hand, hearing the dying screams. She could do nothing but wince and wish there had been something she could do, closing her eyes and pressing her head forward until her helmet tapped against the living planet.

“We’ll save you, brave creature.” She whispered, before moving back and running towards the core.

* * *

 

Of course the core had been a trap, but the Balmeran Shay helped save them by communicating with the ancient creature that had been her home her entire life. Even as the Galra attempted to steal their Lions, Katie and the humans managed to return to protect them, returning to them ticks before they arrived.

Katie and Green took a couple hits before exacting revenge with brutal efficiency against the Galra crafts, heading out of their hole to meet up with the others.

“Did you all make it to you Lions in time?” Shiro asked through the communications as Katie made it out of her hole.

“What do you think we are, amateurs?” Lance responded in a way that made her roll her eyes, glad she was broadcasting her face to her team-members.

“Yes, actually.” Katie’s comment was hidden by the lanky human’s yelp, and she couldn’t help but laugh at him when Shiro spoke to him.

They focused on the enemies attacking Allura and the Castle of Lions above them. They were not as new to the controls or fighting together, so defeating the Galra fleet was not as hard as it had been in the beginning. It was also not their first time joining together in forming Voltron, and as they merged, Katie felt the familiar euphoria. She hoped the feeling would never fade no matter how often they formed Voltron together.

She sighed in relief when the threat was eliminated, believing they had all the time to tell the Balmerans they would never be slaves again to the Galra Empire when something crashed into the dying planet, and another robot monstrosity emerged from the coffin-like container.

“It’s not the same creature from before.” Lance cried over the communications, as Voltron faced the new creature.

“Where does Zarkon get these beasts?” Allura angrily growls. “And how do they keep finding us?”

“Why don’t we just ask it?” Hunk suggested half-heartedly, but Katie was sure only she heard his words.

Still, she did not answer as she tried to attack the creature before they all learned it had no blind spots to use against it.

“Katie, shield!” Shiro ordered, and the young Altean hurriedly pulled out the shield as several charges of whatever the robot-beast blasted right at them.

She heard everyone groan as they struggled to keep their part of Voltron steady.

“We can’t hold out.” Lance gritted out, as if he were tensing up.

Katie looked at her readings as he spoke. “Lance is right. My Lion’s weakening! If the shield sustains any more structural damage, we’re done for!”

“Katie’s right.” Keith agreed, which caused Lance to snark at him before Voltron lost its footing, and they fell back.

“We need to split up.” Shiro ordered, and within moments the five were individual Lions again. Katie tried her best to dodge the blasts and weave between her teammates, but for every one laser they all dodged, three more managed to track them, even with the Castle’s limited assistance.

“We need to find it’s blindspot.” Lance suggested, his Lion flying out of the way of a blast.

“I don’t think it _has_ a blindspot. It has like a thousand eyes.” Katie retorted.

“We need to retreat.” The words formed a pool of anxiety within Katie as she and Lance dodge their way into one of the large holes to hide from the robot-beast’s attacks. “Allura, take the Castle out of range, now.”

The pool only grew as she got out of her Lion, holding up her arm as she heard the beeping for a visual communications, the Lanky human heading her way until they were halfway between their Lions. Just as the connection went through, a muffled sort of moan of pain rumbled the ground under their feet, making Katie almost fall over before Lance’s hands held onto her shoulders to keep her steady.

“You guys feeling that over there?” Hunk’s voice came through before Allura on the bridge appeared.

“Yeah, we feel it.” Lance spoke cautiously, letting go of the Altean when the rumbling faded and there was no chance of either of them falling.

“Is that the Balmera?” Katie asked, looking worriedly around them as she knelt down to feel the ground.

“The great Balmera… is dying.” The male Balmeran, Rax, said faintly from the communications where Hunk, Keith, and Shiro were hidden, and Katie stood back up, her expression filled with horror as she half-turned to Lance.

A part of her was absolutely furious. _How dare the Galra take and take and take, trying to kill this wonderful creature?!_

But another part of her was equally worried and sorrowful. Such a creature didn’t deserve such a painful death.

She pulled up the holographic of the life signs of the Balmera, Lance leaning into her space to look at it with her as Coran explained how the crystals the ancient creature made was vital to it’s existence.

“The Galra have just been taking without following the ritual, or allowing the creature to regenerate at a healthy pace.” Coran said. “Its core will collapse in a matter of hours, and anyone on the Balmera will surely be crushed to death.”

“We must hurry and evacuate the planet then.” Allura stated, her eyes looking at the camera, most likely looking to Katie and the other Paladins. “We need to get all the Balmerans to the Castle of Lions before the planet implodes.”

“But how? There’s a monster up there that won’t let you land the ship anywhere without attacking it.” Hunk asked.

“We’ll need to distract it.” Shiro said in response.

“That way, you and Coran could land and evacuate the Balmerans while it’s properly distracted.” Katie added.

“Or, we could ship the Balmerans with our Lions? Without trying to attack the big all-seeing monster?” Lance suggested, his shoulders shrugging in the corner of Katie’s eye as she turned to face him. “How long would that take?”

“Much longer than we have. We only have a few hours.” Coran said, and Keith made a grunt in agreement.

“Katie, Lance, get back to your Lions. We should be getting ready for the fray.” Shiro said as Hunk sounded like he was speaking to the Balmerans.

“Can you contact all the Balmerans?” Keith asked as Lance and Katie headed for their Lions again.

“I can, but I do not know if they will be willing to part with the Balmera. It’s our home.” Shay’s voice sounded remorseful.

“I’m coming down.” Allura spoke and Katie stopped moving.

“Allura, the moment that thing sees your pod, you’ll be killed.” Katie protested, her heart having skipped a beat to start pounding in fright.

“Let me worry about that. You must focus on distracting the beast.” Allura retorted softly, before their communications ended.

* * *

 

They could not even hit the thing, but they could distract it like large flies buzzing around. Allura had made it to the ground easily enough, as well as hail the Castle of Lions, when Hunk exclaimed something about his Lion telling him something.

“Let’s form Voltron!” Shiro said.

Katie tried to keep her focus on the battle, but words between Allura and Coran caught her attention.

“The ceremony? But Princess, I beg you. To heal a whole planet, it could take more energy than you possess. You may not live through it.”

“I know you’re scared for me, Coran, but I must do it. I must try to save this Balmera before everyone gets crushed.” Allura said, and Katie’s heart leapt to her throat.

“Wait! What ceremony?” She cried, connecting with her cousin.

“A ritual of sorts. When Alteans were given the gift of crystals from a Balmera, we would repay its sacrifice by performing a ceremony. A sacred Altean would re-infuse the Balmera with quintessence. Alfor had performed such a ritual before, but on a much smaller scale.” Coran said, and his last few words seemed directed towards Allura.

Katie bit her lip hard, looking around the cockpit of her Lion as it was pointed at the robot-beast before she connected with Shiro privately.

“Shiro, take control. I need to help Allura before she tries to kill herself saving us all.” Katie barely let the Black Paladin have any input before she was out of her seat and heading out of her Lion.

“Katie?! What are you doing?” Lance’s voice shouted into the communications as she fell towards the surface of the Balmera, heading straight for the small gathering around the Castle of Lions.

“I’m helping my cousin. Take care of the monster.” Katie replied as she landed with the help of her jetpack. “Allura! You can’t do this alone!”

“Katie, what are you-” Allura looked over from the middle of the Balmerans surrounding her in a loose circle under the Castle.

“I’m not letting you risk your life.” Katie said as she approached the circle, walking right up to her cousin. “I have just as much a bond with the crystal as you do. Let’s work together.”

“But-”

“Princesses, we must hurry.” Coran warned as another rumble and pained moan shook them all.

Allura grabbed Katie’s hands, bringing her close. “Okay. Let’s begin the ceremony.” She said to the Balmerans, lowering her voice for Katie. “I’ll guide you through it if you need help.”

“I know what to do, Allura.” Katie mumbled in return, holding herself tall and proud, and the two Altean girls closed their eyes one after the other.

Calling upon her magic was like calling an old, dear friend inside herself. Although she knew it was wild and untamed like a forest would be, it flowed through her like roots. Katie only needed to focus on gathering her magic, feeling it flow around her and her senses were filled with the smell of grass that was not really there.

Working in sync without ever opening their eyes, both Katie and Allura were soon filled with energy, quintessence and magic, and connected with the crystals energy on the Castle. They both knelt down in a fluid movement, pressing both hands against the solid ground and both felt the magic sap at their energy.

The entire ceremony had only taken a dobash at least, but it felt more like an entire varga of magic and quintessence passing through their bodies until they were both empty. It was as if they had been holding their breath underwater. Katie could understand how she could not handle everything longer like Allura, as she fell over, seeing nothing for several long ticks, but soon she heard Allura sigh and fall over as well, and the ceremony was finished.

“Princesses, are you both alright?” Shay asked, her voice suddenly very close, and Katie felt herself be half-lifted.

Katie could only produce a groan, her body feeling like she had been in a cryopod and awake for several movements, while Allura was able to speak. “Did we do it?”

“Yes, the Balmera lives once again.” Rax affirmed, above Katie’s head. “It thanks you both for what you did.”

Both Altean girls sigh in relief, and Katie finally opened her eyes to see the world around her. The robot-beast was down, with Voltron above, victorious, and the surface of the Balmera was thrumming with life once again. Katie allowed herself to relax into hold of the Balmeran man as he helped her stand.

It was only as she was on her feet when the monster growled, and her heart tried to stutter to a stop.

“No!” Allura gasped, her eyes wide in horror as the robot-beast got up.

It was not able to attack as Katie felt a thrum of energy push past her towards the creature, and within ticks, crystals caught it, encasing it completely.

“No way.” She heard Hunk breathe, and she had to agree. It was impossible, and yet it happened.

“The Balmera saved us.” Coran sounded as shocked as everyone most likely felt, having been previously on his way to assist her cousin with Shay carrying her.

“Oh. Look at the crystals!” Allura pointed out, and as Katie focused on the horizon, she saw new layers of crystals were beginning to crown, creating fields and fields of its powerful crystals.

“Beautiful.” Katie breathed, her body feeling heavy from the quintant.

“We did it, guys!” Lance shouted, but the words were becoming muffled as the Altean’s eyes slipped down lower and lower until she passed out.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant for this chapter and the next to be one, but this was already long enough on it's own, so I split it up into two chapters.  
> You know, it's kinda funny having a definite idea of what I want to include in a chapter because last year it certainly wouldn't be like this, aha.


	6. The Corrupted King

Katie had slipped out of her room soon after she had woken up to see if she could find anything about the tainted Galra Balmera crystal. She wanted to know why it was a colour, as well as the dynamics so she would be able to attempt to reverse engineer the modern Galra technology. The technology was like nothing she had ever encountered before when she had been a child, or from her time she was Zarkon’s prisoner, which frustrated her. The humans, and Shiro specifically, had been unhelpful as well, despite Shiro being a prisoner, because they had said the technology was more advanced than their most high-tech equipment.

“You’re just like your cousin, aren’t you, Princess?” Coran’s sigh suddenly behind her made the young Altean yelp in surprise and she fell over.

“Coran!” She cried as he helped her stand up, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t, uh, didn’t hear you come in.”

“What are you doing up and about, Princess? You really should be resting.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out how Galra technology has advanced, Coran! Please don’t make me stop.” She pleaded when Coran started to guide her out of the Green Lion’s hangar.

“You need to regain your energy you lost performing the Balmera rejuvenation ceremony. I’ve already found your cousin and told her the exact same thing when I found her speaking with her father’s memories.” Coran said gently.

Katie sighed in defeat as she was taken away from her work. “Alright. One quintant. Then may I go back to work?” She looked up at the Advisor.

“If you’re starting to feel better, yes. But I must highly encourage you to rest for the entire quintant, Princess.”

The young Altean nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay, Coran.”

“I’ll fetch you tomorrow, then. And I’m sure one of the humans would be glad to deliver you food later for dinner.” He laughed, managing to make Katie crack a smile.

They made it to Katie’s room, and Coran helped tuck her in, making sure she was comfortable.

“I should get going, now, Princess. The humans and I are going to see if the technology we’ve used for keeping King Alfor’s memories may be used on extracting information from Sendak.” Coran told her as he headed for the door.

Katie made a face. “Are you sure that’s safe?” She sat up a bit. “He isn’t a willing participant.”

“We’ll certainly find out. Now rest.” Coran chided before heading out of her bedroom, the lights dimming to a faint dark blue to let her sleep in almost darkness.

Katie sighed again, settling back onto the bed, her hands reaching up to grab one of the extra pillows she had to hold, cuddling it as she turned onto her side. The thought of her uncle brought back many memories of home again. She was happy she and Allura could still speak to Alfor on occasion, although Katie had found every interaction with her diseased Uncle to bring endless pain upon her heart. She always wished she could hug him, feel his warmth one last time. She remembered how warm his hugs were, and how they reminded her of her own father’s, given they were half-brothers on her grandmother’s side.

Her grip on the pillow tightened as she closed her eyes, hoping her thoughts would stop when she fell asleep.

As she finally slipped to sleep, she remembered a family picnic by the mountains near Allura and her parents lived, their fathers arm-in-arm and laughing like they were deca-phoebs younger. Allura and Matt ran around the picnic area, chasing one another in a game that Katie was too small to join in. A smile appeared on her face as she fell asleep.

* * *

 

The soft voice of her uncle woke her up.

“Katie, my niece.” Uncle Alfor said, a hand hovering over Katie’s shoulder as if he had been about to shake her awake.

“Uncle?” Katie frowned in confusion, her eyes fluttering open to see not only him, but Allura in her nightgown behind him with a dreamy expression, watching over her father’s shoulder. “A-Allura?”

“Father has just told me the most wonderful news, Katie.” Allura said with a warm smile on her face, looking to her father. “Tell her, I’m sure she’ll be so happy to hear the news.”

“Wh-what’s going on?” Katie struggled to sit up, looking between her uncle and cousin, her mind muddled and sleepy still.

“Altea is not gone.” Alfor answered, and Katie’s breath caught in her throat. “I know it still exists, and I want to take you both home.”

“You… You can?” She asked in a breath.

“Would you like to go home, Katie?” Alfor smiled and for a moment she saw her own father in his face as he stood up.

“I… _Yes, please.”_ Katie breathed, sweeping her feet over the edge of her bed. Allura moved around her father to help her up.

“Then follow me, both of you. I will show you the way.”

* * *

 

It was like a dream come true. Together with Allura and Uncle Alfor, they walked through their home. Allura and Katie held onto each other as Alfor directed them to the ballroom, a place Katie had been in only once or twice when she had been too young to remember the reasons for the dances.

“I remember how you used to dance around this very ballroom.” Alfor commented, looking back at his daughter and niece with a soft, warm smile. “I can still hear your giggles, Allura.”

“Oh yes.” Allura’s gaze grew distant that brought a smile to Katie’s face. “Those were such good memories.”

“We can create new memories, my girls.” He turned to face the girls, extending both hands for them to take.

Both looked at one another briefly before taking Alfor’s hands, and it was as warm as Katie remembered.

Soon they were on the bridge of the Castle of Lions, both Altean girls taking the helm, one dome for each, and Alfor helped them get the right area to prepare the Teladuv.

Katie heard the door at the back of the bridge open and close, and turned to see the humans and Coran, but she turned back, excited to see home once again.

“Princesses, what’s going on?” She heard Shiro ask, and saw Allura turn around to address them with the good news.

“We’re going to Altea.” She announced, gesturing to the large window screen where they could see the inside of the wormhole. “We’re going home. Father is guiding us.”

She heard the humans and Coran speak, but she couldn’t seem to understand what they were saying. Not that she could care, as the end of the wormhole approached, and they could all see the glory of Altea. She gasped, a burn behind her eyes, and Allura wrapped an arm around her slim shoulders.

“I can see Altea.” Allura breathed, and Katie looked to see tears forming in the corners of her cousin’s eyes.

Katie couldn’t help but sniffle at the sight of the large oceans she hadn’t seen since she had been a child, the gleaming white structures orbiting the planet made deca-phoebs before she had been born. She had always wanted to try swimming in the ocean at least once when she had been young before the war, and Matt had promised when they were older, both would get to go.

“Allura! Katie! Wake up, please! What you’re seeing is not real!” Coran’s voice suddenly shouted behind them, but when Katie turned to the voice, she found they were in a juniberry field, something Allura loved the most because of the scent.

“They’re so exquisite.” Katie murmured as she picked a flower, her cousin doing the same. The pets were beautiful, and so soft between her fingers.

“Please! You’ve got to listen to me!”

“… Is this real?” Allura looked down at their flowers, then at Katie before she turned to Alfor.

He nodded, gesturing to the flowers. “Of course this is real. Those flowers you hold are real, are they not?”

“But where is the scent of the juniberry?!”

Katie never cared for the scent, having rarely smelled them in her childhood. A large portion of flowers made her sneeze when she tried smelling them. Allura, however, brought her flower to her face and inhaled deeply.

Katie watched as her cousin’s eyes snapped open wide, the dreamy expression falling away to a more horrified expression. “That’s not Altea.” Allura gasped, looking off ahead of them, but Katie couldn’t see what she saw.

Allura moved to do something when she shouted and seemed to fall out of existence, only for a hand to grab Katie’s nightgown and she was falling backwards…

… onto the bridge floor. The juniberries were nowhere to be seen, not even the one she had been holding a tick ago. It was like being woken up with cold river water to the face, and she gasped, her sight clearing.

The pale colours of Altea warped to reality. A huge sun. _Oh gods, that’s a sun about to go supernova._

“What?” She asked, looking around. She hoped this was just a nightmare, but the shock of falling back had already told her she was awake.

“Father, please. Turn the ship around. We’ll all perish if you don’t!” Allura hung around the edges of the force field protecting the controls, where Alfor’s AI stood, with Shiro behind her if she fell.

“I know.” He said solemnly, and Katie felt her breath catch again. “That is my intention.”

“What? Why, Uncle?” Katie demanded, as Lance helped her stand again.

“Can’t you understand? Zarkon cannot be defeated. He’s been ruling for too long.”

“But we have to continue to fight! You agreed with me before!” Allura called.

“What are you fighting for? Our home, Altea, is gone. You do not have to continue to fight. You both can return with me and our people.” Alfor extended his arms wide as if waiting for one of them to embrace him.

“Uncle Alfor, please! We can still defeat Zarkon.” Katie cried.

“The Paladins and I can stop him! Somewhere in there, you have to still want that to happen.” Allura pleaded, a hand hovering before the shield.

Alfor’s image flickered, his solemn expression flashing to one of concern. “A-Allura, my AI has been corrupted.” He said, his voice different from before. “You must disconnect my power source.”

Katie was certain her heart skipped a couple beats. She still hadn’t talked to her Uncle alone like she wanted to.

Alfor’s voice turned back to the corrupted tone. “We could have picnics again. Remember how happy we all were then?” He looked from Allura to Katie.

“I… I remember. I’ll see you soon, Father.” Allura said, stepping away from the shield. “I need to manually turn off my father’s AI’s power source.”

“But… We’ll lose Alfor’s memories forever.” Coran sounded dismayed, but not even Katie had an idea of how to save her uncle’s memories while getting rid of the corruption.

“Paladins, get to your Lions. Try to slow the Castle down as much as you can.” Allura ordered, looking from Shiro to Katie, and her expression softened momentarily before she headed out without another word.

Katie’s heart was being squeezed painfully as she and the humans made their way to their Lions. She doesn’t realize she was crying until she felt a sob bubble out of her throat, and tears blurred her vision.

“Goodbye, Uncle Alfor.” She whispered as she took Green’s controls and headed out of the hangar to slow down the Castle from flying into the dying star.

* * *

 

When everything was said and done, Katie found herself outside the bridge while the humans went in, a fresh sob ripping from her chest. She thought she wouldn’t feel this way about her uncle. She _knew_ he had been dead for ten thousand years, and it had only been his memory that had been destroyed, but it hurt. It was like losing her home all over again, and the young Altean couldn’t figure out how to cope. Her hand clutched over her heart, gripping the fabric of her nightgown she still wore.

“Katie?” The soft voice made Katie jump, her free hand slapping her mouth to muffle the shocked sob that escaped.

She released her gown to wipe her eyes, turning to face the lanky human, trying to compose herself. “Oh, L-Lance. What, what are you doing h-here?”

“I noticed you didn’t follow us into the bridge, and I heard you crying in your Lion before you left your hangar. I wanted to see how you were holding up.” Lance said, putting a warm hand on her shoulder. “I’m really sorry about your uncle.”

Tears burned behind her eyes, but Katie swiped them away. “Thank you. I… I thought I would get to talk to him more, you know? I have so many questions that I’ll never be able to ask him now. Like stories of him and my dad growing up.” A watery smile pulled on her lips. “Or, or… I’m not sure, but I’ll never be able to ask him anyway, I guess.” She shrugged exaggeratedly, a weak chuckle bubbling out of her throat in an attempt to not cry again.

“You still have Coran and Allura, Katie.” Lance leant down, his eyes catching hers, piercing hers. “I know it’s hard, but you aren’t alone. We’re all here, still fighting the good fight.”

Katie struggled to compose herself, sniffling and swiping the remaining tears from her face. “Thank you. Lance.” She finally said, giving a small smile to him as she lightly embraced him.

“No problem, Katie.” Lance said.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm suddenly very glad I didn't combine the previous chapter and this one together cuz it would have been a massive beast to get through. Hhh


	7. The Rescue of Allura

**Two Quintants Later**

Katie controlled the Green Lion with three of her teammates inside, all-the-while hearing some fighting or arguing about something through the communications.

Then it got quiet, and set the young Altean on edge as she scooped up the escape pod Shiro and Allura were supposed to be in, as the other three crowded in the cockpit. Katie watched the Galra ship make the jump towards Central Command, her stomach sinking in knots at the thought.

Shiro entered the cockpit as they were moving back towards Coran and the Castle of Lions, when Keith spoke up.

“Where’s Allura?” He asked and the Altean’s hands froze on Green’s controls.

Shiro did not answer until Lance’s questioning tone, and the sinking feeling in Katie’s guts turned to lead.

“She sacrificed herself to save me.” Katie turned to see a pained expression on the human’s face, his entire face screwing up.

“She’s still on the ship?” She asked quietly, hands tight on the controls as she looked up at the Black Paladin.

Shiro didn’t answer again, his eyes slipping past the other humans and Katie to glare out at space.

“The ship that’s heading right to Zarkon’s Central Command?” Hunk questioned in a worried tone, and when she looked over at him, she saw he was looking between the other humans with a knowing, scared expression.

“The place that’s way too dangerous for us to attack?” Keith asked, quoting what Allura, Coran, and Shiro had told them previously when they had found out about the Galra ship’s destination.

Shiro shook his head, looking back at the younger Paladins with an expression Katie couldn’t read. “It doesn’t matter how dangerous it is. We can’t let Zarkon have Allura.” His eyes temporarily met with Katie’s, and all she could think of was her imprisonment. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, even if she did agree with the sentiment.

“But _you said_ going there was too dangerous, Shiro.” Hunk reminded. “You said it would be a huge mistake, and that if we tried to attack it head-on, it would be the dumbest thing we could possibly do.”

“I _know.”_ Shiro answered, turning his gaze to the large human. “But we don’t have much of a choice here.”

“I… I agree with Shiro.” Katie piped up with a hand raising awkwardly. “We can’t let Zarkon get Allura.” One of her calves twitched at the memory of blaster fire, and she pushed it into the pilot seat.

“Get us back to the Castle, we leave immediately.” Shiro ordered.

* * *

 

Allura walked with a straight back despite the heavy handcuffs she couldn’t break out of, and the uncomfortable Galra armour she had wore when she was caught. Behind her were two Galra druids, with the witch Haggar leading the way into a large room the Altean couldn’t make heads or tails of, where a large man stood hunched over, his back to the group.

Haggar forced her to stop as the Galra man turned, and Allura gasped. He hadn’t changed much in ten thousand years, except maybe looked more wizened and evil. She could not find a trace of the man her father had been close friends with for deca-phoebs.

“Princess Allura.” His voice was horrible.

Whatever had happened prior to Daibazaal, Allura could not accept all the harm the man in front of her had caused. “You monster! You destroyed Altea!”

She ran at him but barely made half the distance before her limbs locked up and she was lifted in the air. Tainted magic held her tightly, painful enough to make her gasp.

It did not, however, make her stop fighting. “You… Voltron is going to put an _end_ to your empire.” She swore, her voice growling at the end. “You’ll pay for what you did to my family.”

“No.” Zarkon replied. “Voltron will only make me more powerful. Your father knew that as well as I.”

The magic that held Allura dropped her, when she saw Haggar lower her hand. She grunted as the druids grabbed her arms.

“Your new Paladins will bring me my prize in an attempt to rescue you.” Zarkon continued. “The Champion, one of your cousins, and the key to unimaginable power, will all belong to me once again.”

Allura frowned, but could not speak again as she was pulled away, back to a cell.

**Three Vargas Later**

Katie tried to think of a plan that would work where their haphazard one failed so spectacularly. She, Hunk, and Lance had found the area Allura’s energy signature was emanating, and all three tried to figure out what to do.

“I could try hacking into the closest cargo bay doors?” She suggested, looking around with Green’s eyes but she hoped one of them would shut her down. The idea of stepping foot into Central Command for the Galra sent a violent shudder down her spine.

“We don’t have time for that!” Hunk protested.

“Do you have some sort of plan, then?” She questioned in return.

“Actually, yeah, I do.” Katie watched as the Yellow Lion moved back before spiralling forward and punched a hole large enough to fit its head into the side of the ship.

“Great. A robot Lion-ostrich.” Lance grumbled into the communications, and she could see him turn the Blue Lion to face away from Hunk. “Looks like we’ll have to cover Hunk’s butt until he can get to the Princess.”

Katie turned her Lion as she saw fighter ships coming for them, and clenched her jaw. “Looks like it.” She affirmed before attacking.

The two have been able to work well together in fighting with their Lions, as he and Hunk had been the two to really bond with her both in training and during the downtime. They worked together, the unspoken agreement to cover one side each, only helping the other when they called out or didn’t see the enemy.

“Hunk, did you get the Princess?” Lance asked, flying over a fighter ship and using the tail laser against it as it flew by.

“Yeah, but there’s been a change of plans.” Hunk replied into the communications, and Katie frowned.

“What’s going on?” Katie questioned, dodging a couple fighters.

“We’re going to find Shiro. Allura says he’s in trouble.” Hunk answered before he hung up on them.

Katie growled worriedly before throwing herself into the offensive, and anger welled within her and mixed with Green. Deca-phoebs being prisoner to the Galra, centuries not even living but frozen in stasis, fueled her anger, while the worry for her only remaining family member fanned the flames.

Lance only joined in the fighting with a more defensive stance, helping Katie finish the fighters off while keeping both her blind-spots and the Yellow Lion’s butt safe. He would call directions when she was too far away for him to protect that she took through one ear before swinging Green around with vengeance in her movements.

It was maybe a couple handful of dobashes before Hunk returned with Allura and the three Lions flew off to escort her back to the Castle. Katie saw the Black Lion appear then fly off to where she had last seen the Red Lion, before she had to focus. They had to find a way to wormhole out of there.

“Where’s the wormhole?” Hunk asked with a fair amount of anxiety in his voice.

“Something’s jamming our ability to create one!” Coran called, and Katie almost got out of her Lion to help in some way.

“They must have planned this. We have to find a way to get away.” She called, Green pacing the hangar.

“They have us completely surrounded!” Katie felt her heart stumble, and she squeezed the controls worriedly. To control her nerves, she looked over what was around them on the scanners when she saw whatever shield they had passed through before disappeared.

“Uh, what just happened?” She questioned.

“Who cares? Wormhole!” Hunk sounded like he was both pleading and ordering her cousin.

“Hunk, buddy.” Lance started. “We get you’re scared, but we can’t go any faster than we already are going… Right?”

“Hang on, Paladins!” Coran shouted, moments before something seemed to hit the Castle.

“What’s going on?” Shiro asked.

“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised! It’s breaking down!” He answered and Katie’s stomach knotted painfully.

There had to be something she could do, so the young Altean stood up, ready to head out of her Lion when another shake knocked her over, even as she heard Lance and Coran say something. Before she could stand up again, she felt the Green Lion slip and she couldn’t move at the velocity it was moving. All she could do was scream as she curled up against the back of the cockpit and watched with wide eyes as she and her Lion were pulled out of the hangar and flung through space, until she couldn’t see a thing.

* * *

 

Katie couldn’t move until the Green Lion’s spinning calmed down, and she got to look around where she was now. She groaned as she got up from the floor, finally, and sat down in the pilot’s seat, grabbing the controls.

When she tried moving Green, but nothing happened. She frowned, looking around the area she was now figuring she was stuck on. “What’s wrong, girl?” She asked softly, before realizing whatever happened to the wormhole had caused this. She sighed. “Okay, rest a bit. I’ll just… figure out what to do…”

She bit her lip, uncertain. She had no plan, no course of action, and no idea where Allura or the other Paladins were. Being alone was the worst thing for her, thoughts of her Galran prison coming to mind as the silence grew.

She shook her head before putting on her helmet to figure out what she could do. The Green Lion wouldn’t turn, but life-support still worked. She patted the pilot’s seat as she headed out of her Lion. “I’ll get us out of here.”

Katie headed out, looking around the area to find space junk as far as the eye could see. The Green Lion was nestled in a larger mound of space debris, and she could see the dark eyes without even a flicker. She thought she would never feel this sense of loneliness again, and yet it seized her by the heart.

“There has to be something here that can help me…” She muttered as she boosted around the area, searching the debris for anything of use, either for her Lion or for herself to calm her racing heart. Even quiet, brooding Keith would be welcome, even if she barely knew him outside that he was searching for his alien mother, but had no idea what she looked like or what species. He had no physical indicators either to help, and he had said he would stay with the group because they could find his mother faster with more people. That, and the fact Lance was very adamant about being his ‘school rival’ whatever that meant.

Thoughts of the humans helped, until she passed a dark cave-like debris to see something glowing like eyes at her. Her eyes went wide and she curled up in space, her arms snapped forward with her bayard at the ready.

“Who’s there?” She yelped, words slamming against her heart as it stuck in her throat.

The glowing eye-things moved out of the shadows of the debris-cave, soft chitters coming from… Very small creatures. They were puff-pillbugs, with what seemed to be four distinct pastel colours. Blue, green, yellow, and a soft pinkish-purple, and Katie realized the glowing were markings on their cheeks, much like her own – minus the ability to glow.

“Oh. You guys are kinda cute, huh?” She uncurled as the small creatures approached her curious. “Sorry, I must have scared you. I’m just… I’ve lost my friends.”

The creatures chittered at her, but she had no idea if they had a language or not.

“Yeah, I don’t know where my friends are, but I have to help them somehow…” She spoke to them, simply relieved to have living creatures nearby. Her heart was already slowing down to a better pace. “I hope I won’t have to stay here for long, if I’ve disturbed you all. Just gotta…” She sighed. “Find something to do I guess, until they find me, or my Lion wakes up.”

The chittering creatures surrounded her, and a green one bumped its little body against her helmet. She giggled a bit as the space-pillbug repeated it until she stopped it.

“Thank you for caring.” She said, petting the creature’s head. “I’m happy to have met you all now. I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last scene took forever for me to write for some reason. I knew what I wanted to end on, but actually getting to the point of writing was just, not something I wanted to do. Glad I finally got it all though!  
> Also, another timeskip ahead, so I'll say this now! Instead of doing the debacle of Katie taking 2 of the puffs, she takes one of each colour! So HA screw you small details ^u^


	8. The Exchange of Cultures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The totally-not-a-mall-date episode

**A Couple Quintants Later**

Shiro was the only reason Katie’s bayard was out of her grasp as the Galra stood in front of the group. She had been against the idea from the beginning but she had been outnumbered by the others and Shiro himself.

She could tell Allura held the same sentiments towards the Galra as she, even as the older Altean held Katie back, however more protective of her than over keeping the man safe from them.

“When you released me, you said there were others working with you.” Shiro stated, the unsaid question hanging in the air.

“Yes, we are called the Blade of Marmora.” The Galra, Ulaz, nodded.

“So you’re saying there have been other Galra working against their own kind?” Katie piped up, and she felt Allura’s hand tighten on her shoulder. “And no one ever tried to save me or my brother during our ten-thousand-year imprisonment?”

“None of our members had high enough clearance.” His eyes turned onto her and on instinct, she bristled despite the fact he had been bound on her cousin’s insistence. “Those of us who infiltrated the empire had never been able to make it so high to be guarding you or the other high-level prisoners. I assure you, we have tried to gain access to you, but by the time we had been able to, you had escaped on your own.”

Katie pursed her lips in response but went quiet as the other humans spoke. She was silent as they were going towards their death, until they found these Blade members had the technology to make a space pocket to hide themselves from the world.

She followed with her teammates to learn about the Galra that seemed to be on the right side, even as her stomach twisted in so many ways she was ill and stayed within arm’s reach of all the humans.

It wasn’t until the robeast arrived, and Ulaz sacrificed himself for them that Katie felt the sparks of belief that everything he had said was true. But at Allura’s uncertain expression, her doubts fought each other in her mind. _Could she really trust the words of one single Galra when she had been imprisoned for thousands of years by the same species? Could there really be a resistance force made out of the very species that had destroyed everything she loved, everyone she cared for?_

She shook her head as the others spoke, trying to figure out how the robeast had found them so quickly. _Those thoughts would be for another day,_ she thought.

**A few more Quintants later**

Katie could barely keep her eyes open, her body feeling like several giant Lions had played with her like a mouse before it was mealtime. She had been stripped of energy from trying to both help Allura with the warping and assisting the guys in protecting the Castle when the Galra ships still found them.

It frustrated her. After meeting with the Olkari, she had surely thought her stamina and energy with her magic would have increased indefinitely because she finally _understood_ her magic. Beforehand, she as well as Allura and Coran had been unable to figure out how she was supposed to control what they all deemed ‘uncontrollable’ magic. Her magic was different from Allura’s, elemental-based, and very strong when she was actually in the element, whereas her cousin’s magic seemed to stem from quintessence.

But it seemed even with her understanding greatly improved, Katie could not replenish fast enough when her duties were greatly torn. Since returning to the Castle after being separated, they had been tailed by the Galra no matter where they went. When Allura was drained and to the point of passing out, Shiro would take her away from the controls and allow Katie to do a balancing act of using the Teladuv, getting the ship through the warp-gate, before she would have to eventually run back to her seat to give out logistical help for Lance and Keith who would protect the Castle from attacks.

It seemed they had been able to figure out how Zarkon had been able to find them – somehow he could connect with the Black Lion from such a long distance – but it left a sour taste in Katie’s mouth how none had ever thought it would be possible for multiple people to have a connection with a Lion.

Hunk nudged Katie’s side and she jolted back to the present. She, Coran, and the three younger Humans were heading into a swap moon, under disguises that felt off to the young Princess. She wore a mask that hid most of her face, including the markings, like Coran, but it itched.

Coran had originally tried to stop her from coming, saying both she and Allura needed to stay on the ship and rest after all the warping and hopefully finally replenish their energy back to normal. Katie, however, was adamant about following, saying she was fine. Eventually he relented when Allura came up with the compromise that she would rest up, and when they all returned, Katie would be off to bed immediately.

“Are you sure you’re going to be okay on your feet?” The large and surprisingly warm human asked her in a hushed whisper, putting a hand on her back so she wouldn’t sway as much.

“I’m fine. Just need to take it easy.” She waved his concern away, shaking her head and patting her cheeks to wake herself up a bit better. She couldn’t show Coran how dead she felt if she wanted to actually explore an actual swap moon and see Unilu pirates with her own eyes.

She heard Lance’s voice on Hunk’s other side, but couldn’t comprehend exactly what he said. It, however, seemed to soothe his friend, but the hand remained until Coran told them to get moving.

Katie couldn’t be sure what happened after she heard Coran leave, but she was suddenly left alone with Lance taking off his disguise and stretching tall. She blinked when she realized the others had all left.

“Where’d-”

Lance shrugged with a hum. “I think we’re just looking around the mall. Coran will have the best luck actually finding the lenses, so I think Hunk and Keith went to window-shop.”

“Okay, a couple questions,” Katie asked, feeling a second wind pick her up, and she pulled off her own disguise, but kept the scarf Lance had worn to partially cover her face and hide her markings, “firstly: Why didn’t you go with them?”

“Promised Hunk I wouldn’t let you fall asleep in a corner by yourself.” Lance replied, putting his hands on his hips as if that answer had been obvious. “You’re known around the Castle as the one who could fall asleep at any time, even standing up.”

Katie’s cheeks reddened, and she looked away with a pout, crossing her arms over her chest.

“C’mon, Katie, it’s a pretty impressive trick, but not in the middle of a mall like this.” Lance said as he began walking backwards, Katie following after a delayed reaction. “And what’s the second question?”

“Uh, what’s a mall?” Her arms uncrossed, although she still wouldn’t look at Lance.

She heard his footsteps halt, and she frowned as she finally looked over to him to see the incredulous expression on his face.

“You’ve _never_ been to a mall? Did Altea never have, like, any of the basics?” Lance sounded like he was trying not to shout out his exclamations, before he lunged forward and grabbed Katie’s arm, pulling her after him. “No, nonono, this won’t do! We’re going to explore this space mall so you can experience the best thing the average teen takes for granted.”

“Wh- _hey!_ Okay, okay! Don’t rip my arm out of its socket, please!” She cried as she was made to follow the lanky human.

* * *

 

“Oh.” Katie looked around at the stalls on either side of the large narrow area. “Malls are like, indoor markets?”

“I guess?” Lance didn’t sound too certain. “Malls are malls. Different stores all in one convenient place.” He shrugged. “Most malls I’ve been to normally just have gaming stores, clothing stores, and then the food court to eat if you plan on staying for a ridiculously long time.”

“Gaming stores? Like board games?” Katie questioned as they passed a few stalls.

“Uh, maybe. But also video games, arcade games, stuff like that.”

“Video games…” Katie pursed her lips in thought but couldn’t imagine what those would look like. “I don’t think we had those. But you might have to ask Allura or Coran. I was still pretty young when Altea was still a planet...” She trailed off a little dully.

Lance went quiet, sticking his lips out as if trying to pout or turn into some sort of creature. “How could a highly advanced planet with space-age travel not have the basics like a mall or video games?” He questioned. “It’s like, essential!”

“Why are you being so weird about this?” Katie retorted, crossing her arms as she looked up at the lanky human, feeling defensive. It felt like he was insulting Altea.

Lance stopped mid-step, his face soft in surprise by the sudden edge in Katie’s words. He had been prodding too close to her still-healing heart, she could tell he was realizing this now, and he looked away from her to the floor.

“This is… actually the closest thing to home right now.” Lance took a couple ticks to get all his words out, but once it started, it was like a dam had broken. “I really hated malls back home, but it was like a rite of passage among my brothers and sisters and me. If I could handle myself with only one of my siblings – and not our parents – and not get lost, but have a fun time, I’d get to go alone whenever I wanted, because I was old enough to be unsupervised.” His gaze looked distant and sad. “This place reminds me of the mall close to my home, just replace all these aliens with other humans. So it’s just… weird that you’ve never heard of it before.”

“Oh.” Katie couldn’t find the words past the sound, and she looked around the area they stood at. She could hear the faint trickle of water from the fountain in the middle of the mall, a lot of talking in different accents and dialects, but her eyes caught sight of something she couldn’t figure out.

It was mainly white, and stood proudly on a tapering shelf, with teal and green and blue writing in a language she couldn’t understand.

“Hey, what’s that?” She asked, walking over to the shop where the box stood in front of, curiosity driving away the unpleasant thoughts once again.

“Wha-oh, that’s. Hey that’s human tech!” Lance cried, rushing past Katie to look over the box. “Yeah, this is Killbot Phantasm 1, for Mercury Flux Two!” He looked down at Katie with a bright look. “We have to get some money to buy this.”

“It’s not cheap, just so you know.” The store owner appeared beside them. “Twelve hundred GAC, and it is yours.”

“We’ll be right back then!” Lance promised before taking Katie’s hand, gently holding it so he only had to guide her rather than drag her. “Don’t sell it!”

Katie let out a quiet yelp as she was pulled away but she found herself smiling. If there was a way to make the humans feel at home, she wanted to help. After all, simply being in the Castle of Lions gave her a feeling of home she desperately missed.

* * *

 

Katie held onto the box for Lance as he was given the leash of the Earth creature he called a cow, and whom the alien salesman called Kaltenecker. She found the experience, with Lance rambling on and on about Earth customs, had been nice. Humans were similar to Alteans, she found, although not as advanced – but Lance was quick to retort how Alteans hadn’t reached Mall-time before the war – and she could almost imagine such a planet, far from interstellar warfare.

They had an exciting exit from the mall, and Katie couldn’t help but feel deca-phoebs younger as she laughed, clutching the box with one arm and Lance’s shirt with the other to not fall off Kaltenecker, fleeing from an angry ‘mall security’ Galra.

It had been a while since she felt so light.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't think of this episode without thinking "Space date space date space date"


	9. The Betrayal

Katie felt sick. Keith stood across from the others, Shiro and Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora, standing beside him. The Red Paladin wouldn’t look at her or Allura, either looking at the other humans or at the floor, and for the third time since they had returned, she wished they had been joking.

Keith’s mother had been a Galra. A possible member of the Blade according to Kolivan, but a Galra nonetheless. He was related to the species that killed her people, that served under Zarkon, and no one had known the truth.

She felt betrayed. She barely heard anything after that moment they learned he was part-Galra, and in fact had fled the room within minutes. After Keith had finally gotten the courage to look at the Alteans to see the hurt and fear on Katie’s face before she fled.

There was no direction she was aiming for, no room she was making her way to, so she wandered blindly through the Castle as her stomach twisted in painful knots, her heart in her throat, choking her of air.

Katie found herself in the common area for the Paladins, what the humans would call a living room, and she quickly collapsed on the seat, curling up as she tried to figure out her emotions _. Why did it hurt so much to know Keith was part-Galra? He wasn’t anything like them. He was_ human. _He was nothing like those monsters._

Yet the knowledge shifted something about him. Started to try to find patterns. _His hair was more fluffy than the others… And his eyes were too different from the colours of the other humans… He seemed more likely to fight dirty like a Galra...  
_

She shook her head, just as the door to the living room opened quietly and she heard footsteps.

“Katie?” It was not a voice she was okay with hearing, and her eyes snapped up to look at dark eyes. Keith looked cautious as he approached. “Are you, uh, okay?”

Something broke in Katie and she sat up quickly. “You’re a _quiznacking Galra.”_ She spat out, her arms straight down to rest her fists firmly against the curved couch. “You never told us you were part _Galra.”_

Keith looked confused before he shook his head. “How was I supposed to know? I never knew my mother! All she gave me was a letter and this knife.” He gestured to the dagger in his hand, with the symbol of the Blade at the crosspiece.

Katie refused the information he was giving her, anger clouding rational thoughts. She shook her head. “You have been part-Galra your entire life and you _lied_ to us.” She stood up, causing Keith to step back in surprise. “You lied to us!”

“How could I have lied if I didn’t know?!” Keith’s face shut down in anger himself, his hands also forming fists. “I never lied to any of you. Not about this.”

“You’re just like the rest of them!” Katie shouted, the dam breaking on her memories and for a moment, she was 10 again, watching the Altean children get massacred, the one blue-haired child’s pleas echoing in her ears. “You’re just like the ones who murdered hundreds of _children,_ with no remorse!”

Keith went still, but Katie could not see, falling in her memories. She had never told the humans what happened during her imprisonment, and she wasn’t sure Allura had explained it either. But the dam was broken, and her lips spilled the memories of her entrapment at the hands of the Galra.

“Your kind massacred hundreds of children in front of me. Mowed them down like they were _ants._ Forced me and my brother to watch and live with the knowledge we were spared because of our connection to Allura and Uncle Alfor.” Tears slipped down her cheeks she could not feel. “Your kind separated me from my only family I knew I had left, forced me in isolation for deca-phoebs. Shot me when I attempted to escape and simply put me away in a cryopod. Your kind, you-your _kind_ destroyed everyone and everything I ever loved. And now _you lied to me.”_

The sob the ripped from her throat brought her back to the present, the memories hurting her more than she ever thought they could. She fell to her knees, clutching her head as she sobbed.

“Katie, I-” She barely heard Keith speak before it was overpowered by another voice that appeared in the room.

“Leave my cousin alone.” Allura sounded like she stormed into the room, and if Katie had been more aware of her surroundings, she would have noticed Keith was practically body-checked out of the way. Suddenly arms encircled her, and the familiar scent of her cousin filled her.

“Allura, look, I-” Keith protested, but was again cut-off by Allura.

“Just, leave us alone.” Her words were cold as she helped Katie stand and escorted her out of the living room, leaving Keith standing in the room, hurt written across his features as the door slid shut behind the Alteans.

* * *

 

When the missions were given, and the group had to split up, even the humans could tell Keith should not be with the Alteans. Shiro ordered Hunk to go with Keith to get the scaultrite from a nearby Weblum, then ordering Lance and Katie to join him in rescuing a prisoner from Beta Traz while Allura would return to the Balmera to get a crystal to power the giant Teladuv they were creating for a hopefully-final showdown with Zarkon and the Galra Empire.

Lance and Hunk stood between the Alteans and Keith, as if acting as barriers, and Katie could feel their eyes watching her worriedly, but she refused to look their way. She wanted to make herself small, disappear from everyone’s gazes. Her outburst still felt fresh, the remembered memories wanting her to curl up and weep, or scream, or break something. Allura and Coran were the only two would could understand her pain the best, but only Coran seemed to not direct his emotions at Keith or the Blade.

“Good luck, everyone.” Shiro ended the meeting, and Keith left the room first, fleeing like a coward with Hunk hurrying to catch up with his teammate.

“Good luck yourselves.” Allura said, and Katie saw the lingering hand on his non-metal arm before she too left the meeting room.

Once it was the three of them remaining, Katie found herself the receiving end of two concerned gazes, and she fidgeted under the combined weight.

“Katie, before we go.” Shiro began, stepping up to her and putting his non-metal hand on her shoulder firmly. “We need to talk, about what happened.”

“No, we don’t.” She tried to shake the hand off her, but found herself frozen when another hand was placed on her other shoulder, Lance’s expression soft and sympathetic. “Please, we don’t need to talk.”

“We know you’re hurting, but you can’t blame Keith for what happened.” Shiro said softly. “He’s got nothing to do with what happened to you.”

“You really hurt him with whatever happened yesterday.” Lance said. Katie swallowed thickly, and she locked her arms by her sides. “Like, he can be annoying, but he had been opening up and stuff a bit before all the Blade of Marmora stuff happened, and then after, and when we saw him again, he was in the training room looking like he wanted to train until he dropped dead.”

Any words Katie wanted to say in her defense caught in her throat. Logically she _knew_ all this already. Keith was just as innocent as she was, as the other humans. He wasn’t one of the monsters of her nightmares, he was a friend and teammate, someone she had to work well with. Someone she had to trust or else Voltron would not work. She knew this already, and it had been the shock that had caused her to lash out, but she couldn’t explain herself.

“Can you at least apologize to him when we all get back?” Shiro asked. “We need to work as a team. We can’t let this divide us.”

Despite how the words could not escape the lump in her throat, she nodded, shutting her eyes tight. She just needed time. Time to re-evaluate her thoughts on the Galra species. After all, there had been a time where they were allies with Alteans.

“Okay. Let’s get going.” Shiro said as he let go of Katie’s shoulder, but Lance kept his hand there for a couple ticks longer. “We can focus on the mission, then once we have the prisoner, we can talk about this again. Sound good?”

“Yeah, Shiro. We should focus on the rescue for now.” Lance agreed as the two humans helped guide Katie out of the room.

* * *

 

In the command center was not nearly as exciting as what the humans were doing, but it kept Katie busy. She split her focus three different ways: herself, Lance, and Shiro’s safeties.

When the other two were okay for a bit, Katie looked at the information at her fingertips and paused for a tick. _There was always the possibility Matt’s prisoner records could be somewhere in this…_ She thought before she was moving to work on it. She set up a search to run while she helped the humans navigate without getting caught.

She had to hide only once when she heard footsteps approaching the command center, but she had not been found out, and neither had her searching through prison records.

“Sir, Laika has escaped.” A sentry said to the Galra as he stood practically on top of her hidden under the desk, and she prayed for them to leave.

“No!” The Galra growled before heading out. “Guard the station.”

When he left, Katie was left with the sentry, and from the angle she was at, she was able to incapacitate it easily before it could alert anything about her location.

As she was helping Lance and his freed prisoner, the small ding from her search caused her to stop and turn. “Matt?” She wondered as the small screen showed a clip, dated seven deca-phoebs ago.

The clip was of a security feed, showing the outside of a room ticks before an explosion broke apart the door and most of the wall. Katie was frozen in place as she watched a masked alien with their arm and cloak partially cover the body of a person in Galra prison garb, but even the simple camera could catch the cheek markings, a dark green against pale skin, and her heart stopped beating. He looked to be about her age now, which meant he had probably been in a cryopod since their capture.

But what did this mean? Was is possible Matt was-

“Katie!” Lance cried.

She jumped and returned to her original task, shaking her head. “Right! On it, sorry! Reversing the targeting system.” She muttered under her breath as she saw the foaming turrets point from Lance’s retreating form to the warden. “Stick around.” She giggled to herself at her own silly pun.

Her good humour could not last long, as she heard the door open to more sentries, and her eyes went wide. “Uh oh.” She whispered before they attacked.

* * *

 

After their missions were complete, even after finally getting rid of the robeast on the Balmera, Katie could feel the eyes of Lance and Shiro on her, as if both mentally ordering her to talk to Keith and make things right. Fighting as Voltron had been a strained affair because of the conflict between the two arms, and she knew she had to be the one to mend it again.

She looked back at the Blue and Black Paladins with a mild glare as they turned their heads away with a whistle or yawn, before she turned back to the rest of the room, looking for the Red Paladin.

He was by the door to the corridors, about to slip through when he noticed Katie’s gaze on him. She watched as his expression went from neutral to mildly pissed and he turned away.

Katie could not let him get ahead of her, and she bolted forward, chasing after the other human until she could grab his wrist and stop him.

“Keith!” She called once she stopped him, releasing his arm at his glare as if he burned her. “Keith, I.”

The words stuck again, painfully so as she tried to swallow them down and try again when he crossed his arms over his chest.

“What? Do you want a round two or something?” He demanded resentfully, and another emotion she thought she could describe but the word was lost to her.

She shook her head, setting her jaw. “N-no, that’s not…” She shut her eyes tight and took a breath. “I’m sorry.”

Keith was silent, but she couldn’t hear footsteps so she took it that he was waiting for her to continue.

“I’m sorry. I was rude and lashed out at you when I shouldn’t’ve. I just…” She gripped her own arm tightly through her Paladin armour. “I’ve been hurt so much that I hurt you without thinking logically. I, I know you’re, I _know_ you’re not like them. You’re not like the Galra who destroyed my home, and you had nothing to do with it. I’m sorry for what I said.”

She hadn’t realized she had been crying until she felt the cool tears slide down to her neck and she gasped quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She whispered before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Her eyes snapped open to see Keith looking awkwardly down at her, the anger and resentment gone from his expression, leaving his features soft.

“I…” Now it seemed Keith was having trouble finding the words. “Let’s just forget about it, yeah?”

Katie frowned but didn’t refuse. She sniffled and rubbed the tears away as Keith nodded, as if the agreement had been finalized between them.

“Okay.” He said as he let go of her shoulder and stepped back. “Thanks for, uh, talking to me. We should get some rest before the big meeting tomorrow. We’ll defeat Zarkon for sure.”

“Ye-yeah.” Katie agreed, wiping the tears completely away and sniffled again. “We’ll finally defeat him.”

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This had been a fun chapter to write ehehe. Platonic kidge is very nice, and I felt bad for putting them in this situation.  
> Also, that last season, huh. I'm gunna have fun writing that stuff into this later, aha ^u^


	10. The Aftermath of the Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been seeing a lot of disheartening stuff about the ending of vld, but I won't be stopping this fic. However, I will also be incorporating the ending in this as well(with big changes considering the added one-shots that I've already wrote, lmao)

_“He can’t just be gone, Allura!”_ Katie heard Keith shout through the door that led to the Red Lion’s hangar. She, Lance and Hunk were hanging back, all a little apprehensive about entering the room where the Red Paladin was having a shouting match with Allura as she and Coran tried to stop him from leaving for the third time in under a quintant.

_“You think I don’t understand that?”_ Allura shot back, her voice high and angry. How it got when she fought her father when they had all been much younger.

Hunk grabbed both Katie and Lance’s arms and pulled them away. “This is going to go on for a while.” He whispered as he led the two further from the hangar. “We’d only make it worse.”

“But what about stopping them?” Katie asked, allowing the larger human to drag her along gently by the arm.

“It won’t solve anything. They’re both really upset, and I don’t think we’ll help the situation. Coran could handle them both, right?” Hunk looked over to Katie as they turned a corner.

She bit her lip but nodded in agreement. Coran would be the best choice in any case. He would be able to calm the raging storms in Keith and Allura’s hearts.

They were quiet as they wandered the halls of the Castle, until they reached the living area. Lance wiggled his arm out of Hunk’s grip to fall onto the couch with a quiet groan.

Katie watched the two humans, looking from to the other as the fight between Keith and Allura replayed a bit in her mind. “Why aren’t you two as angry as him about what happened?”

Lance was the first to respond, after casting a glance to Hunk. “Well, why aren’t you? Allura seems pretty beat up about it, and she’s known Shiro for about as long as you have.”

“He’s my teammate. Leader.” Katie spoke slowly, frowning at the sudden questioning she was getting rather than receiving. “I’m upset, but the data we’ve been continuously gathering hasn’t been lying. Shiro is just… Gone. No matter what I feel about it, I cannot disprove the evidence. Now answer my question.”

“Same.” Hunk said simply, sitting down beside his friend and leaning back heavily as if the weight of a planet was in his lap. “I’m upset too, but like you said, we can’t find him at all. But I’ve also never really known Shiro all that long. Lance and Keith, they were the ones who, like, looked up to him the most.”

“I think Keith sees him more of a brother or something.” Lance’s voice appeared muffled with his face against the seat cushions, but he turned his head to speak more clearly. “Sure, I look up to Shiro, but before actually meeting him in the flesh and talking to him after he crashed and all that… Keith definitely knows him better than all of us. I just, I don’t know. This is all just… Crazy. How does someone just _disappear_ like that?”

Katie and Hunk were quiet after Lance finished speaking. She could understand what he was talking about, and reminded her vaguely of her brother.

The thought of her brother snapped the memory of the old footage she had found of his escape from some prisoner ship. Realizing he was alive was enough to overshadow any other pressing issue. She still had yet to tell Allura or Coran, but with the shock of Keith being Galra, to the actual battle against Zarkon – and winning? – no one could think of anything outside the missions, and so she had barely any time to even think about the video until then.

“Maybe we should try to think of other things.” Hunk broke her out of her thoughts with a jolt. “I’m pretty sure we did a great thing now. The Galra have now suffered a great defeat. That’s got to be enough cause for us to celebrate, right?”

“But what about-” Katie began to ask, but Lance overtook her.

“That sounds like a great idea, Hunk! Come on, big guy, I’ll help you in the weird kitchen.” He said as he rolled onto his feet, turning to look over at Katie. “We’re not ignoring the deep stuff that happened, but when there’s nothing we can do, it’s better to get out of the funks and see what we can do.”

Katie felt like she needed to argue the thought process, but couldn’t get her heart into it. It was too heavy with conflicted emotions that the idea of something fun and celebratory was like music to her ears. She nodded.

“Okay. I’m gunna… You guys can find me in my room, okay? I just remembered some data I left there from before the mission that I’ve been meaning to check out.” She half-lied.

The guys nodded in acknowledgement before they started towards the door, already talking about trying different Altean ingredients to make some desserts.

Katie, on the other hand, walked quickly to her room for that data she had gathered from Beta Traz.

**Five Quintants Later**

Hearing the sound of metal on metal, furious growls and grunts, coming from the training room at all vargas was wearing on Katie whenever she happened to be within two corridors of the area. If it wasn’t Allura in the middle of the night, whacking training dummies at their highest level with an expression of utter heart wrenching pain whenever she happened in the training room, it was Keith who would snap at anyone opening the door.

Team building exercises were put on hold since Shiro’s disappearance on account of Keith’s furious nature, often snarling at the idea of working with the other Paladins when Shiro was not with them anymore.

Lance tried to fight with Keith, but it seemed to fall upon deaf ears until the lanky human was fed up with trying. Hunk would not even try, looking lost as to how to help the other human. Katie could only guess it was because he had never seen this kind of reaction from him.

As for herself, Katie was growing tired of it. She knew Keith wanted to keep searching, but was opposed by all the others, so he was letting off steam the only way he seemed to know how, but this was getting ridiculous.

She would try to keep to herself, or with Allura or the other humans, but the tension created by Keith was getting too much for her, and so she found herself storming into the training room with some seeds from Olkarion gripped in one hand. There was a subtle pulse in each seed that mimicked her own heartbeat, the thrum of her magic mixing well with the nature of the unhatched plants in her hand.

She threw the seeds at Keith when he had his back turned on her for a fraction of a second, before squeezing her hands into fists. The seeds exploded like kernels popping, long, rope-like vines sprung out to wrap around Keith’s torso and arms.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Keith demanded when he looked over to see what had just happened. “Get these off of me!”

“Not until you grow the quiznak up.” Katie retorted, stepping forward until she was simply a couple feet away, calling over her shoulder. “Turn the simulation off, idle mode.”

The dummies around them slumped, but Katie kept her focus on the Red Paladin.

“You have been acting like a child.” She started with the bite in her tone evident. “We are all upset by what happened but there is nothing we can do!”

“Wha-? Let go of me, Katie.” Keith struggled against the vines, but at Katie’s hand movements, he stilled under the restraints.

“No. I am tired of you throwing this tantrum simply because we are not all running ourselves ragged.” She snapped. “This isn’t just about you, Keith.”

“I know! But I…” Keith trailed off, his breath coming out in short bursts as he stopped struggling altogether. “What if this was your brother? You had one, didn’t you?”

The mention of Matt shook Katie’s core, and her hold over the seeds slipped for a moment, but they all fell off Keith all the same.

“Exactly.” He said, swiping at his shoulders to dust the loose vines off. “Shiro’s like a brother to me. I’d rather see a body than… not. Wouldn’t you want to know what happened to your own brother?”

“I already do know.” Her voice came off softer than she meant, younger even. The video feed snapped to focus in her mind. She looked down and away from Keith as she spoke. “I found out during Beta Traz.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I… My brother has been out of Galra clutches for over 7 deca-phoebs.” She said. “I, I found a video of some other aliens somehow break him out, while we were at Beta Traz.”

“You’re kidding.” Keith deadpanned, and when Katie looked at him, she saw the conflicted emotions behind his eyes.

“I couldn’t really say anything because we had the huge battle with Zarkon to worry about, and then Shiro…" Katie paused to take a breath, "I know how you feel, but doing this isn’t going to solve anything but drive a wedge in the remaining Paladins. It’s been an entire movement, Keith.” She shook her head as she got back on track. “Maybe I can ask Allura if it would be possible to do some searches around the nearby area, but if we can’t find any sign of him…” She shook her head again, trailing off.

Keith was silent for a few ticks before she heard him sigh. “Fine. But only if she allows the search. I just… He’s like the last family I have. I can’t lose him again.”

Katie felt her chest hurt almost painfully, understanding how Keith must be feeling. She nodded and took a step away from the Red Paladin. “I’ll, uh, go see Allura then. But can you stop being the angry fighter? You’ll only exhaust yourself and no one’s useful when their exhausted.” She thought back to her near-constant exhaustion from the time Zarkon had been able to follow them through the Black Lion’s connection.

“Fine.” Keith sounded reluctant but Katie was relieved to see him slump a bit, no longer looking as tense.

She sighed silently as she left the room to talk with her cousin, hoping anything would be better than the tension the Castle felt stuck in.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Katie and Keith seem to love having shouting match, aha.  
> But I love them so much


	11. Looking forward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking forever, aha ^^;;

It was decided to focus on the Voltron Coalition without Voltron in active duty. Lance and Hunk were working on liberating planets primarily, with Keith and Katie assisting when they could, but they also spent their time with other, personal matters. Allura had allowed intermittent searches around the area where they had fought and won against Zarkon that Keith scoured to the last minute before he had to call back to the Castle.

Meanwhile, Katie had told the others about her brother – Allura and Coran had been told the same quintant as Keith, with the humans being told the next quintant due to emotional exhaustion of explaining to her cousin that Matt was actually alive.

Allura had looked shocked, her eyes wide as she turned her head downwards with a mutter. “So that’s what he had meant.”

“What, Allura?” Katie asked.

She looked up, surprised as if she hadn’t meant to speak aloud. “Ah, it’s… When I was captured, I was forced to attend an audience with Zarkon, and he had said something about getting back one of my cousins. I feel he knew Matt had escaped, so we should hurry to find him before the Galra try.”

Katie couldn’t agree more with the suggestion, and so after she told the other humans about her brother possibly being alive and free of Galra, she began to search for him using the video clip of his rescue. She kept her focus on the one that had primarily helped Matt to escape, hoping to find out anything about them and if she could find them.

Her knowledge of sentient alien planets was severely lacking, but the Castle’s digital library was more than helpful. Searching for the species was easy, as was finding the planet, but finding the specific alien that had saved her brother was harder than it should have been. She spent a couple quintants travelling from the Castle to the planet Kythra and back, talking with the locals of the desert that fit the partial appearance of the alien. She tried to see if they could know who her brother’s saviour was, but they were not able to say.

“The face is completely obscured, little one.” An elder said, her thin face pinched due to the constant squinting in the bright sun. “And we have lost many of our people to the Galra.”

The word caused the small audience to growl and murmur angrily around Katie and the elder.

She simply put a hand up and the murmurs grew quieter. “I wish we could be of more assistance, but we will always assist those who oppose Zarkon and the Galra.” She bowed her head forward and the audience followed formally. “The Paladins of Voltron and the Coalition are welcome here.”

“The Paladins of Voltron and the Coalition are welcome here.” The audience repeated solemnly in unison before Katie finally left the planet, her heart a little heavy still even with the good news they had more allies for the cause to fight the Galra empire.

She soon found herself back in one of the meeting rooms by herself, where she had staked to be her workroom to help her look for Matt, watching the clip repeat itself, analyzing it to try to find some new angle that could help her.

She was so engrossed in the clip, Katie had no knowledge that the door to the room had opened until Coran’s loud voice shocked her back to the present.

“Ah, Princess, you’re back! Anything helpful?” He asked as he stepped into the room, looking up at the clip that repeated.

“Not really. I spoke to some of members of the desert tribe on Kythra. They’re not friendly to Zarkon or the Galra, and said they would join the Coalition, which is good, but… They have the same feathered ears as that one, but no one could identify the person in the footage.” Katie shook her head. “So that’s a bit of a dead end.” She brought her attention back to the clip, fiddling with it until she had a blown up still of the alien, Matt half-hidden by the cloak, and she pointed at the pantaloons. “I’ve been studying what I could since I got back, and I found that these skort pantaloons are normally found worn by the Tando people.”

“Correct, and they’re located in the Valurian quadrant.” Coran put in helpfully.

Katie nodded quickly. “Yes, but that’s on the complete other side of the galaxy. Even looking at the records gathered of that prison ship Matt had been held captive in at that time, they would have never been even close to the Valurian quadrant. And the mask looks…” She waved her hand at the image, uncertain what it was.

“Looks like an interesting blend of fashionable and functional, really.” Coran comments, a hand stroking his moustache thoughtfully.

“Do you think they could have been intergalactic fashion pirates? I think I remember some… stories you would try to tell us when I was very young, of you in your ‘prime.’” She quoted the word with her fingers as she looked over to the older Altean. “Or do you think they could actually be some sort of freedom fighters that are banding together to take down the Galra empire?”

“Hmm.” Coran hummed in thought. “I’m glad you remembered those stories. I _had_ been something of an intergalactic fashion pirate back in my day. Even had a theme, do you remember that little tidbit?” He struck a pose that would have made Katie giggle if not for the overall topic of the conversation.

She shook her head before tinkering with the clip. “Maybe this’ll help? I had the system analyze the sound of the explosion, before I left for Kythra. It should be done now.” She replayed the sound before the results popped up on the screen and the two Alteans tilted their heads in the same direction. “Huh. Nanothermite titanium-boron.” She bit her lip. “That doesn’t strike me as something common, maybe I can track that.”

“It’s possible. Good idea, Princess.” Coran put a warm hand on her shoulder before he turned to head through the door. “While you continue on that, I should check in with the humans and see how things went on Puig.”

“Oh, they’re already done?” Katie turned her head to watch after Coran as he nodded in response to her question.

“Yep. And don’t forget, we have that diplomatic meeting with some of the new leaders of the recently freed planets we’ve helped. We all have to be present to put a good foot forward.” Coran reminded.

“Oh, right… Does that require formal wear or Paladin wear?” Katie questioned.

“Paladin wear for the Paladins.”

“Okay, thank you, Coran. I’ll be there on time.” She called as Coran left the room, and she turned back to the information she now had.

* * *

 

Katie sighed silently as Keith stormed out of the room where the representative dinner was being held, frowning. She understood why Keith was acting in such a way, but it nevertheless made it less difficult to work around.

“Uh, anyone want some more food? Pizza roll? Maybe a pig in a blanket?” Hunk asked with a weak laugh, as if trying to break the mood.

One of the representatives replied with a bright look as he took a pizza roll. The tension dissipated but Katie saw Lance shake his head tiredly.

They rushed to finish the meal, Allura and Coran taking the reins as always with Kolivan attempting to help relieve lingering fears the representatives held, while Katie and the other humans headed out the opposite way.

Once they were all far enough away, both Lance and Hunk sighed as if equally exhausted.

“That went well, huh?” Hunk gave the two a false smile. “I guess I can’t blame Keith for that outburst, but I’m starting to think maybe Allura’s right. We might need to get a new Black Paladin.”

“Yeah. As much as I hate to think of it, Voltron does inspire a lot of hope, better than just the Lions can.” Lance agreed, and Katie nodded in agreement.

“But how would we even find a new Paladin?” Katie questioned.

“I was going to ask you that, since you and Allura and Coran know more about the Lions than we do.” Hunk said.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand the choosing. Not like Allura does, anyway. But it won’t matter if Keith can’t stop with his lashing out at the mere implication of moving on. We’re all the Paladins of Voltron, a team. We can’t allow ourselves to, to lose focus on what still needs to be done.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Katie.” Lance nodded. “Come on, let’s get your cousin and maybe we can track down Keith and get through to him.”

“Yeah!” Hunk called with a bit more enthusiasm than before, taking both Katie and Lance’s wrists and pulling them both along further into the Castle.

* * *

 

They all made a brief detour of finding Allura to get out of their armour. Katie was relieved to have her hair down again as she walked out of her room to wait with Hunk for Lance to finish changing before they all continued on their quest to find her cousin and the Red Paladin.

The three barely needed to say a word before Allura agreed.

“But I’m done trying to get through to him.” She replied, her words holding a bit of bite in them from the frustration Keith instilled in her at this point. “I’ll come along for moral support.”

“Better than nothing, I guess?” Hunk shrugged, and they were on their way to find where Keith had skulked off to.

He was in the Black Lion’s hangar, where the Lion lay listlessly, having not moved since the battle several movements ago. Katie had the impression he knew they were there but chose to ignore them.

She looked over to Hunk before looking further to the side, a frown on her lips as she wondered who was going to be the one to try to get through to Keith that they could no longer waste time when people needed Voltron.

Lance was the one to step forward after it seemed everyone turned to the Blue Paladin. Although when Katie and her cousin first met the humans, they had seen Lance and Keith butt heads the most, it seemed they also understood each other as friends would. Lance had also shown the most empathy, even when he was weird and flirted with every girl he had no chance with.

“Hey, man.” Lance started as he reached the Red Paladin, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Listen, we all miss Shiro. I’ve looked up to the guy for years, he’s my hero. I remember how much of a thrill it was to actually meet him for the first time when we carried him out of that Garrison hospital.”

As he spoke, Katie and the others approached the duo.

“He taught me everything I know about piloting,” Hunk put in on Keith’s other side, shrugging a little helplessly as he continued to speak, “which, y’know, isn’t that much, but that’s more on me.”

“He helped me so much.” Allura’s voice was soft, almost longing. “He’s reminded me time and time again why I’m doing this, why we all should continue this.”

“Keith, you’re not the only one hurting by this.” Lance said, his eyes looking directly at Keith’s face. “We’re all right there with you, man. But you know Shiro would be the first one to tell us all that we should move on.”

Katie spoke up then, stepping around Hunk to stand beside the Red Paladin. “We-I know exactly you feel, Keith.” He turned to look at her in the face, almost searching for something. “But our mission is bigger than any one of us.”

“Even someone who is _so_ irreplaceable.” Allura said.

There was silence as Keith seemed to digest the words before he nodded curtly. “I know you’re right.” His words sighed out of his lips, as if he were resigned, all the previous anger finally escaping him. “It’s time to figure out how to reform Voltron.” He looked over to the Black Lion, and the others followed his gaze.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a theme going for chapter names until this one. I just couldn't find one that would work for this chapter lmao. (Which means I'm now free from the theme hehe)


	12. The Galra Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NOT DEAD

Katie was inwardly relieved the Black Lion did not choose her when the group took turns inside its head. Even before she had stepped foot in the larger Lion, she had known it would not choose her, if the amused presence of Green in her mind was any indication, and her own resistance towards the idea.

She spent the shortest amount of time in Black’s cockpit before she gave up, shaking her head. Green had saved her from the Galra and she wasn’t going to try to seem insensitive.

When all the others had entered and left the Black Lion’s cockpit unsuccessful, besides Keith who hadn’t gone, Katie could see the distressed expression on the half-Galra’s face. By the time it was his turn, having had all the others go before him – Katie thought it was because he was hoping whatever Shiro had told him wouldn’t come to pass – the others could tell he had a resigned look about him with his dragging feet and hunched shoulders.

She saw Lance cross his arms, looking grumpy about the whole thing before they fell to his sides at the sight of Black waking up. Its eyes flashed brightly, and Katie took a step back in surprise.

“So Shiro was serious.” Hunk commented offhand, only a bit surprised by the development.

Keith looked defeated when he left the Black Lion, and Katie couldn’t help but turn to the other humans. She was still on rocky terms with the half-Galra, even if he tried to ignore all her and Allura’s previous angry outbursts at him after learning about his heritage, so while she wanted to find a way to comfort him, she felt something prevented her.

It was surprising when Lance was the one to comfort the now-former Red Paladin.

“Listen, dude. If Black really did choose you, then it chose you for a reason.” He said, putting a hand on the other’s shoulder. “Maybe under all that mullet, there’s an actually competent leader after all.”

Hunk chuckled, and Keith scowled for a moment before he shook his head. “Whatever... Thanks.” He replied.

* * *

 

When Puiga was attacked, and only three of the Lions arrived to the threat to find the Galra waiting for them, Katie’s heart froze.

_“Attention, Paladins of Voltron. This is Prince Lotor, son of Zarkon, Emperor Pro Tem of the Galra Empire.”_ The voice announced through their communications and suddenly Katie could no longer breathe.

Back, way back before Zarkon captured her and her brother, before he and Honerva died due to… something she had not been old enough to know about, Katie had known the couple was supposed to be with child.

“There’s no way.” She breathed, wide-eyed at the ship as Lotor continued to speak. _There was no way that child was still ali-well,_ she thought as she tightened her grip on the controls of Green, _Zarkon has been alive somehow for this entire time, if Honerva were still alive as well, and gave birth to that child…_

“What was that, Katie?” Hunk asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing, we’ve been set up!” She jerked the controls as Galra fighters shot at her.

“Evasive maneuvers!” Keith ordered.

With just three of them, it was harder to cover each other and attack at the same time with over three times the number of fighters trying to take them out. At the same time, Keith was having trouble controlling the Black Lion.

Katie growled to herself, her heartrate hammering with how many fighters were against them.

“There’s too many for just the three of us! We won’t be able to hold out like this.” She cried as she rolled out of the way of some shots heading her way and managed to take out a few enemies, but whenever they took down one fighter, three took its place. “Where is Lance?!”

The three tried hard to keep each other safe, when Keith let out a soft noise of surprise. Katie turned to see what he had seen to see the Red Lion flying quickly over, just before Lance’s voice came over the comms.

“I’m coming in hot!” He shouted as he shot at the enemies.

“Careful how you handle Red!” Keith almost sounded like he was reprimanding Lance, but Katie stopped listening when a group of fighters shot at her, and she barely dodged out of the way, barrel-rolling over the attacks and shooting in retaliation.

“So what do we do now?” Hunk asked.

“We need Voltron, but we’re still down a Lion-” Keith started when another voice came over the comms, and Katie found herself smiling widely.

“Not anymore!” Allura called as the Blue Lion shot out of the Castle.

* * *

 

After learning about Lotor being alive, and they had all made it through the battle alright, Katie went to Allura after they returned to the Castle.

Turned out Allura was heading for her as well. After an embrace, the two happy that Allura was now part of the team instead of simply being the backup with the Castle and Coran, Allura looked at Katie questioningly.

“Had you known he was alive?” She asked as she guided the two of them through the halls.

Katie shook her head. “I had no idea. It’s just… It should be impossible, Allura.” She said, crossing her arms, uncertain. “If this is the child they were expecting back then, he should not be alive.”

“Would that mean Honerva survived like Zarkon?” Allura questioned.

“But she would have stopped him, wouldn’t she have?” Katie knew very little about the former Empress.

“Maybe…” Allura jolted suddenly before looking away from Katie.

“What?”

She shook her head quickly, smiling forcefully at her cousin. “Nothing, it’s nothing.” Her smile slipped. “If Lotor is telling the truth, he’s been alive for ten thousand years. That’s deeply concerning.”

“Zarkon is over ten thousand years old, Allura. Whatever happened to them that changed them, affected that child Honerva had.” Katie couldn’t understand anything. She only knew the stories Uncle Alfor told her, accounts her parents told her, and the bits of things she remembered and lived through. It frustrated her that she felt she should know what was going on, because she had been so close to everything, but had little to no knowledge thanks to her age and her captivity.

Allura stopped her from walking further with a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll get through this, Katie. We’ll figure this out.”

Katie really hoped so.

* * *

 

_“Everyone, get in your Lions again.”_ Keith’s voice boomed through the hallway Katie and Hunk - having met up with him after Allura said she needed to see the Blue Lion again - walked down on their way to their bedrooms to change. _“We’re going after Lotor and that ship right away.”_

“Are you serious? We barely had any time to enjoy this victory!” Hunk complained to the air, but it seemed Keith wasn’t having a two-way conversation.

Katie bit her lip, the conversation she had just had with Allura still processing. She looked to Hunk, shook her head a little helplessly before she headed back towards her Lion’s hangar. At least they hadn’t yet changed out of their uniforms but she agreed with the large human’s complaint.

The journey was silent. Keith would not utter a word outside of what their objective was: find and defeat Prince Lotor and his ship. He led the team in the Black Lion, with the other four following behind.

“How far are we from the tracker, Katie?” Keith asked as they approached a dense planet.

“Uh, on the other side of the planet.” She looked at the radar to see the blinking light of the tracker connected to the ship. “If we keep up this speed, we’ll be within attacking range in a varga.”

“Good. Stay in formation.”

From Katie’s periphery, she saw the Blue Lion overcorrect and collide into Yellow.

“Oh, sorry, Hunk!” Allura seemed to jerk the controls of Blue a little too roughly to correct herself again.

They could all hear Hunk grunt in reply to her apology, and Katie frowned at the sound. It wasn’t like Allura meant to hit him. She was still learning, and Blue was probably much different from how she imagined it to fly. Green had been nothing like she had expected it to be.

“Are we sure we should try attacking right now?” He asked the team, and even if Katie disliked how it seemed to be barbed towards her cousin, she had to agree. “Over half of Voltron Paladins are new to their Lions and might not be great at controlling their Lions.”

“Do you mean me, specifically?” Allura’s voice was soft.

“No! No, no, not specifically you! You might be the one who’s never controlled any of the Lions, but-” Hunk stammered quickly. At least he knew he had accidently hurt Allura’s feelings by criticizing her too harshly. “I mean, Lance and Keith are also in new Lions! And yeah, they can figure out the controls easy enough, I don’t think every Lion functions the same.”

“Hunk’s right. Lance hasn’t figured out Red’s speed yet, if the last fight was any indication.” Katie piped in.

“Exactly! Don’t you think it’s not the right time to bite off more than we can chew?” Hunk reasoned.

“We don’t really get a say, apparently.” Lance groused, his tone evidently aimed at the Black Paladin. “You can blame our new hot-headed leader up there.”

“First you wanted me to lead, and now you’re complaining on how I lead.” Katie could imagine Keith rolling his eyes in exasperation. “If we want this war to truly end, we have to stop Lotor. If he really is Zarkon’s son, he is likely the next in line to controlling the empire. We can stop it right now.”

The Red Lion shifted to look back at the leg-lions. “How you doing in Blue, Allura?” Lance asked, sounding worried.

“I hadn’t thought how different flying a Lion would be compared to flying the Castle. Somehow the unwieldy Castle of Lions is easier for me. I just need to adjust.” She replied.

“You’ll get it.” Katie turned Green around and has it spin around Blue for encouragement. “Blue will help you out, like how Green helped me.”

“Thank you, Katie.” She could hear the reassured smile in her cousin’s tone.

“You better be ready. Cause we’re going in.” Keith said, and Katie quickly returned to her position as the team pushed forward, within reach of the Galra’s scanners.

True to her thought, the Paladins found movement coming from Lotor’s ship, although only one fighter ejected. It wasn’t one even Katie had ever seen before, not uniform to the normal Galra fighters.

“Where’s the rest of them?” Hunk questioned as they continued their approach, if a bit faster with knowing the fight was almost upon them.

“Probably scrambling. We should take this one out before they join.” Keith ordered before he gunned the Black Lion forward.

“Ke-” Lance cut himself off with what sounded like a groan as the fighter and Keith flew straight ahead, neither backing down from a head-on collision.

The Red Lion sped forward to meet with the Black Lion, but even from this distance, Katie could see Lance hadn’t estimated how fast Red could really fly as the two collided partially.

“Lance! Careful with Red!” Keith barked.

“Sorry, I’m not used to Red’s speed yet.” Lance defended himself.

Katie was starting to really agree with Hunk. This was not the best time to try to finish any fight.

Chapter Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'know, when you take away scenes that don't include the Paladins, sometimes entire episodes of the series are incredibly short. It's still a mystery to me how either side really /learns/ about the stuff that the audience is privy to when it's not explicitly stated - coughhowtheGalralearnPidgeisagirlcough >.>

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be varied, so I'm sorry if it takes a while for the next chapter to appear. Trying to have one chapter ready ahead of time.
> 
> Reminder that 1 Deca-phoeb for Alteans is 15 Human Years.  
> Katie was 10 Deca-phoebs when the Galra took her captive, and is now 16 Deca-phoebs.  
> Allura is 22 Deca-phoebs, and Coran is 45 Deca-phoebs. Matt was 16 Deca-phoebs the last time Katie saw him, but now he is...?


End file.
